Wauwatosa wins regional title

The Wauwatosa West/East co-op wrestling team is racing down that track of success, and at their latest stop, they picked up the Nicolet Regional Championship.

Engineer/coach Kent Morin tossed it on the train with the Woodland Conference Dual Meet Championship and the Woodland Conference Tournament Championship and jumped back on to see what was down the road.

They crushed Whitefish Bay, 271.5 to 202, to easily win the title and they met Menomonee Falls in the Team Sectional at Arrowhead on Tuesday (see separate story).

Tosa came away with seven regional champions, three runners-up, two thirds and a fourth-place performer.

"Saturday was an incredible day," Morin said. "The guys wrestled great. We wrestled 29 matches on the day and I can honestly say there were only two matches that we weren't happy with. That is not something I have ever been able to say after a tournament."

First Place

Kai Castaneda at 113 (38-1) scored 26 team points, winning the title on an injury default over Whitefish Bay's Max Carlin (23-8), who hurt his shoulder.

Zach Miller at 120 (37-3) scored team points, pinning Milwaukee Madison/Career and Tech/Lang/NW/Samuel Morse Marshall's Damion Payne (21-3) in 3 minutes, 48 seconds.

Miller, with his two pins, is now tied with John Brennan for the all-time season pin total at 27.

"He will easily beat that record this year," Morin said. "Incredible as a freshman."

Marcus Morrow at 145 (32-6) scored 26 team points and had three pins along the way, defeating Milwaukee King's Linzy Hudson (23-11) in 2:42 for the title.

"Just an outstanding tournament from a guy who is wrestling really well at the right time of the season," Morin said.

Devine Burt at 182 (24-8) scored 25.50 team points. He won by a technical fall (16-1) over Whitefish Bay's Andrew James (11-8) to win the title.

"Devine was really intense on Saturday and just was not going to be denied," Morin said. "He put his opponent on his back four times in the championship match."

Max Nelson at 138 (26-0) scored 25 team points and won by major decision (15-7) in the title match over Milwaukee Riverside/Shorewood's Donnell Rash (27-15).

"He is pretty focused right now and won't be happy with anything less than a trip to the state tournament," Morin said.

Ben Reagan at 126 (31-3) scored 24 team points and won the championship with a 6-1 decision over Whitefish Bay's Joey Davey (31-11).

"Wrestled a great match in the finals," Morin said. "The final score was actually 10-1 not 6-1 as listed on trackwrestling. He just mentally broke a very good wrestler from Whitefish Bay."

AJ Minucci at 132 (32-8) scored 22 team points, winning the title with a thrilling 9-8 decision over Pius XI's Quinn Burzynski (35-4).

"AJ pulled the biggest upset of the tournament," Morin said. "In the finals, he beat Burzynski from Pius 9-8. Last week in the finals of conference, he lost to him by a score of 14-7. AJ studied film and did some soul searching and realized that he had to open up his offense. It worked well and is a strategy that he definitely needs to continue this coming Saturday."

Second Place

Sam Bertz at 160 (29-11) scored 22 team points, winning the second-place match by a pin (3:39) over Milwaukee Riverside/Shorewood's Sher Umar (5-4).

Lorry Venturi at 285 (11-25) scored 20 team points, winning by rule over Whitefish Bay's Joe Beck (10-8).

Alex Comte at 152 (23-18) scored 19 team points, winning by rule over Milwaukee King's Dan Fullmer (13-10).

Third Place

Matt Miller at 220 scored 12 team points, winning the third-place match by pin over Nicolet's Armani Johnson (5-6) in 2:40.

Sean McDuffie at 106 (16-14) scored 10 team points, winning the third-place match 7-5 in overtime.

Fourth Place

Elliott Rogahn at 195 (19-11) scored 11 team points, winning by a 10-7 decision over Milwaukee Washington/CEO Leadership Academy's Jeremy Sherrod (18-8).

Morin talked about the strength of the regional.

"We did have a weaker regional but the guys were focused and didn't take any matches for granted," he pointed out. "It is critical to come out of your regional with the highest finish that you can because of the cross bracketing with the other regional at sectionals.

"The champ from our regional gets the fourth-place finisher from theirs; two gets three, etc. So for us to have seven champs was amazing. We really set ourselves up for success next week. Now we need to keep wrestling this way for the next couple weeks."

WIAA REGIONAL

Saturday Results at Nicolet

1. Wauwatosa West/East (271.5)

2. Whitefish Bay (202.0)

3. Nicolet (168.5)

4. Milwaukee King (120.0)

5. Milwaukee Riverside/Shorewood (117.0)

6. Pius XI (68.0)

7. Milwaukee Madison/Career and Tech/Lang/NW/Samuel Morse Marshall (60.0)

8. Milwaukee Washington/CEO Leadership Academy (24.0)