By Adam Knoll
Sports Correspondent
The Whitewater High School wrestling team was busy last week, taking on two schools in dual meets before hosting their own tournament last weekend. Results were a bit up and down, but team members gained a lot of experience.
On Dec. 9, the Whippets took on Janesville Craig and had a rough go of it, losing 51-16.
John Saylor won his match at 152 pounds, with a 10-1 decision. Adrian Casillas, wrestling at 182 pounds, won his dual at 17-4 while Tommy DuVal, at 195, won a 4-2 decision in a tight match.
The biggest score of the night came at 285 pounds where Daniel Soto overtook Nicholas Knaub, earning the team six points. It was not enough to prevent a loss.
Being the first dual meet of the season, bumps were expected and Janesville was a tougher opponent than expected.
“It was a tough start the season. (That is a) solid Craig team,” head coach John Schimming said. “The wrestlers did get valuable experience as all of the boys on the team got mat time, which is why we wrestle bigger schools in our non-conference competition.”
In JV action, the Whippets took advantage and won a 38-27 decision. Winners included: Tyler Lippens, Brandon Sun, Robby Liberto, Thomas McManaway, Victor Fernandez, Jacob Lee, Luke Bultman and Michael Lippens.
The Whippets would move on to face Jefferson two days later, on Dec. 11 in their second dual meet of the season and fared much better, taking a 53-16 decision.
In taking down a conference foe, Whitewater received six forfeits, virtually guaranteeing a victory on the scorecards. The Whippets won on the mat as well, 17-16, earning their first dual meet win of the season.
Tommy Duval won by a technical fall, 19-4; John Saylor and James Ehlen won by twin 10-4 decisions; and Robby Liberto won his first varsity match, 13-8, sealing the win for the Whippets.
The JV squad won for the second straight time, by a score of 42-28 with Tyler Lippens, Brandon Sun, Victor Fernandez, Thomas McManaway, Jimmy DuVal and Michael Lippens all earning victories.
For the third competition in five days, the Whippets hosted the 3rd annual Whitewater Invitational on Saturday, a 10-team scramble event in which the Whippets finished third overall and had five wrestlers earn medals.
Janesville Craig once again proved tough, taking the top spot with Hononegah, Ill. squad coming in 22 points behind Craig for second.
“(We are) very happy with the performance of the team on Saturday,” Schimming said. “We feel that we all wrestled well and had some nice performances by the student-athletes.”
Irving Sedano earned a first place finish, beating five wrestlers outright, including Nate Farrell of Janesville Craig in the final, whom Sedano had lost to earlier in the week. All five of his victories came by decisions, none closer than two points.
John Saylor also earned a first place medal, running over his competition by an average of seven points. For the championship, Saylor had to take down a member of the Janesville Craig squad, Caleb Mollet, by a 7-3 decision.
Another first place medal winner for Whitewater, James Ehlen, fought four tough matches, two ending in fall victories. His championship match was against Torrey Brown of Kenosha Christian Life, with Ehlen winning by a 4-1 decision.
Tommy Duval took thirrd place at 195 pounds, winning only one of his first four matches before taking down Brady Herek of Beloit and a spot on the podium.
Daniel Soto won second place medal at 285 pounds, mauling every wrestler he faced after suffering a first round loss. Soto won each of his matches by fall, none of which lasted longer than 3:52. In fact, Soto’s other three pins all happened within one minute.
Following the invitational Schimming said the coaching staff “would like to thank the wrestlers for an outstanding job setting up the four mats and taking them down when it was all over. Also, a thank you goes out to the parents who provided lunch for the workers, officials and coaches. As always, it was excellent. Finally, thank you to the parents who provided their support in the concession stand throughout the day.”
