By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
Carter Friend and David Cushman represented the Whitewater High School wrestling team at the WIAA sectional tournament Feb. 22.
Needing to finish in the top three of their respective weight classes to advance to state, Friend won his first two matches and kept his season alive for another week.
“Carter started his day off with a big win over his Darlington opponent, 17-9,” Whippets’ head coach John Schimming said. “This was a good warm-up for Carter because he had a very good opponent in the semifinals from Richland Center, who is a strong kid who historically is a pinner. Carter came out and took charge right away, getting the victory (9-4) to put himself into the championship match.
“Here he found himself against a familiar foe in a Beloit Turner opponent who he has competed against six times now over the year.”
Friend lost the title bout and then went on to lose the second-place match. These results ended his day with a third-place finish, which still qualified him for state.
Cushman started his sectional action off with a loss, but he wrestled back because his first-round opponent eventually made the championship match.
“David had a tough task ahead of him in facing a returning state qualifier from 2019 in his Lodi opponent,” Schimming said. “David imposed his will and set the pace early in taking a 6-2 lead after the first period with three outstanding takedowns. David finished the match off winning 8-4 to put himself into the third-place match.”
Unfortunately, Cushman fell 7-2, thus missing out on punching his ticket to the state tournament.
Schimming said he appreciated all of the supporters that traveled to Evansville to support the school’s sectional qualifiers.
The state competitions were set to begin Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison.
