National exposure should help Tosa wrestling team

The Wauwatosa East/West co-op wrestling team will be led by five wrestlers who were members of the Wisconsin Freestyle or Greco Roman National Team that competed this summer in Fargo, N.D.

"Overall, the coaching staff feels like this is the best team we have had in the past couple years," Tosa coach Kent Morin said. "We need to get off to a fast start which we are confident that we will."

The five Freestyle/Greco Roman wrestlers are Michael Meade, Eric Ehlert, Max Nelson, AJ Minucci and Kai Castaneda. Three of them placed in the State Tournaments before the National Tournament.

Meade was fourth in freestyle, Minucci was fifth in Greco Roman and Nelson took fifth in freestyle and sixth in Greco Roman.

"The experience that these five wrestlers gained by practicing and competing with some of the best wrestlers in the state should help them greatly this year," Morin said. "They came back from the national tournament much more confident and technically sound.

"I think that experience will give them a big advantage at the start of this season."

Experienced group

Meade, Ehlert, Nelson, Minucci and Castaneda lead the 12 returning letterwinners.

Others are John Brennan, Jonathan Tripi, Akeem Harris, Sam Bertz, Alex Comte, Sam Hanrahan and Devine Burt.

Morin also pointed out two freshmen who have impressed the coaching staff - Ben Reagan and Marcus Morrow.

"We had a strong commitment from the team this past summer and fall in the weight room," Morin said. "As a result, I think we will be a stronger team than we have been over the past couple years.

"Sam Bertz is one guy that I would really single out as having worked really hard this past off-season in the weight room."

In need of a heavyweight

Tosa doesn't have a heavyweight, which will be an obstacle Morin will have to overcome.

"We just cannot find a big body that is willing to work as hard as we do," he said. "We have had three football players give it a try, either in open wrestling or during our first week, and they just couldn't handle the workload.

"Now I understand the frustration that the football coaches at East and West feel as they try and put together linemen. We are really thin in the upper weights so we will need to stay healthy."

Morin feels that as usual Pewaukee is the Woodland Conference favorite.

South Milwaukee, Whitnall and Tosa would be in the next level.

"But they are definitely more vulnerable this year than the past couple years," he said about Pewaukee. "We opened with South Milwaukee on Wednesday, so we will find out quickly who has the best chance to maybe unseed Pewaukee."