Meade only Tosa wrestler to qualify for state

Wauwatosa East senior Michael Meade topped off a good season by being the only member of the Wauwatosa East/West co-op wrestling team to make it to this week's WIAA State Meet on Thursday through Saturday at the University of Wisconsin - Madison's Kohl Center.

Meade did it in style, taking first at 132 pounds at the Arrowhead Sectional on Saturday, scoring 21 team points in the process.

Meade, who was 35-8 this year, earned a first-round forfeit over Austin Meyers (Menomonee Falls). But then he rolled through his next two opponents - pinning top-seeded Jason Ipsarides (Cedarburg) in 1 minute, 46 seconds, and winning a 17-7 major decision over Quinn Burzynski (Pius XI) in the first-place match.

"It means a lot because I been working at it for four years," Meade said. "I'm happy that it came true."

Once he made it to the finals he knew we was going to state since the top two qualifiers from each sectional make it, but Meade said he stayed aggressive in the finals and felt pretty confident.

"I had beaten him (Burzynski) the previous week," Meade said. "but it felt great, like I said. We have quite a few teammates coming up to watch me at state."

Wauwatosa coach Kent Morin was pleased for his senior.

"I could not have been happier for Michael Meade," he said. "He has worked so hard over the past four years. He truly earned and deserves this trip to the state tournament. He has been our leader all year long. He put together a great sectional tournament where he was not going to be denied.

"You always hope as a coach that your guys peak at the right time. In Michael's case, that is exactly what he did. Now he needs to continue that into the state tournament on Thursday."

Meade, a four-year letter winner and a two-time team captain, faces Charles Mulnix from Racine Horlick in his opening match on Thursday. If he wins that match, he would probably draw Cody Dolata from Waterford, who he lost an overtime match to earlier this year.

"Two wins puts you in the semi-finals which is our initial goal," Morin said.

Tosa finished fifth out of 16 teams.

"I thought our guys wrestled as hard on Saturday as they had at any time this year," Morin said. "For some of them, it just wasn't enough. We sent seven guys to the semi-finals which is better than we thought we would do. We had six guys other than Meade, that were within one match, or sometimes just one move, of making it to the state tournament. The good news is that five of those six guys are underclassmen and will be back next year."

Third-place finishers

John Brennan at 220 (12 team points). He pinned (1:16) Ian Olivas (Grafton) and was pinned (1:04) by Mensah Amuzu (Homestead). Brennan then pinned (1:44) Dylan Lautner (Arrowhead), but lost to Amuzu by rule.

Coach's comments: "John lost a heart-breaking match in the semi-finals. He was dominating his opponent and just relaxed for one takedown. Unfortunately, that was all it took for Amuzu to finish off the match. John did record two pins which gives him the all-time single season pin total of 27, beating Glen Kendl's 2008 record. That is a record that I thought would never be broken.

Kai Castaneda at 106 (10 team points). He won a major decision (10-2) over Dylan Lesar (Cedarburg) and won a 6-5 decision over Nick Brenning (Oconomowoc). He then was pinned (2:50) in the first-place match by Bill Holz (Menomonee Falls) and lost a 4-3 decision in the second-place match to Max Carlin (Whitefish Bay).

Coach's comments: "Kai had the toughest weigh of the tournament. It was a weight class that had four wrestlers who had at least 32 wins this year, which is a crazy number for a sectional tournament. Kai made it to the finals and lost to a stud (Holz). Then he had Carlin in his wrestleback match. He had beaten Carlin last week 3-2, but this time he was on the losing end of a great battle.

"If there was five more seconds in the match, Kai would have earned a takedown for the win. But credit needs to go to Carlin who probably wrestled his best match of the year. Kai had an amazing year though and this one match does not diminish that."

Max Nelson at 145 (10 team points). He won by forfeit over Greg Ballering (Oconomowoc) and lost a major decision (14-1) to Mitchell Berenz (Arrowhead). He then won a 4-3 decision over Billy Depies (Grafton), but lost a 9-3 decision in the second-place match to Nick Knoebel (Hamilton).

Coach's comments: "Max got a break in his first match when his opponent didn't make weight. He made the most of that opportunity by winning his third-place match and earning a wrestleback. He wrestled Knoebel from Sussex Hamilton really well. He hit a terrific throw that unfortunately was off the mat by about six inches. That would have been the difference in the match."

Fourth-place finishers

Devine Burt at 182 (Seven team points). He won by pin (4:53) over Danny Schnick (Arrowhead), but then lost by decision (8-7) to Nick Levings (Whitefish Bay) and by a decision (6-2) to Keondre Walton-Cooper (Nicolet) in the third-place match.

Coach's comments: "Devine Burt avenged a loss from the team sectional by pinning Schnick from Arrowhead. He then came up just short in the semi-finals. He was so close. Literally, he was one move away from getting to the state tournament."

Larry Bryant at 195 (Seven team points). He won by a pin (5:59) over Antoine Easterling (Homestead), but then was pinned twice (3:46, 4:53) by Mike Konvalinka (Hamilton) and Mike Knippen (Germantown).

Coach's comments" "Larry pulled a major upset in his first match by pinning Easterling from Homestead who was 21-5 at the time. He then lost to two outstanding wrestlers. He was the biggest surprise for us in terms of making it to the semi-finals."

Ben Reagan at 126 (6.50 team points). He won a technical fall (17-2) over Jeff Kleser (Menomonee Falls); lost a 6-4 decision to Phil Flegner (Hamilton) and was pinned (1:01) in the third-place match to Brandon Goesch (Germantown).

Coach's comments: "He had a tough semi-final match which was the one he needed to win to get to the state tournament. It was a great battle, but unfortunately Ben was taken down with 30 seconds left in the match. Ben was another guy who really peaked at the right time. He just came up a little short but had an outstanding season for a freshman."

One & Done

Seven Wauwatosa wrestlers lost their first match. The results follow.

Sam Bertz lost by a 9-4 decision at 160 to Tyler Baran (Germantown); Alex Comte lost by a technical fall (16-0) at 152 to Danny Krause (Germantown) and Akeem Harris forfeited at 170 to Justin Rapp (Grafton).

Four wrestlers lost by pin - Dylan Christman at 113 to Nathan Kingston (Oconomowoc) in 3:30; AJ Minucci at 120 to Joey Pelkey (Cedarburg) in 2:43; Eric Ehlert at 138 to Tyler Palzkill (Germantown) in 2:59 and Michael Vogt at 285 to Michael Mohr (Oconomowoc) in 1:06.

1.Arrowhead148.5

2.Hamilton104.5

3.Whitefish Bay82.0

4.Germantown74.5

5.Wauwatosa West/East73.5

6.Menomonee Falls58.0

7.Cedarburg53.5

8.Homestead32.0

9.Nicolet28.0

10.Oconomowoc26.0

11.Grafton18.0

12.Milw. Mad./Campus of Tech.10.0

13.Pius XI9.0

14.Milw King0.0

15.Milw. Vincent/Brown Deer0.0

16.Milw. Washington/CEO Leadership0.0