By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Two Waterford Union High School wrestlers finished their season on the podium at the WIAA Division 1 Individual State Tournament.
The state tournament ran from Feb. 26-28 and was held at the Kohl Center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
Hayden Halter (47-3), a two-time state champion, finished third at 126 while Joshua Cherba (42-11) saw a similar result at 132.
Halter and Cherba were two of five wrestlers who appeared at the state tournament.
“The upside is we took two thirds,” Wolverines coach Tom Fitzpatrick said. “The guys wrestled pretty darned good. We should have had four podium guys.”
Halter won four of his five matches at state. Halter beat Cedarburg’s Bryce Jankowski (42-4) in the third-place match.
Halter’s only loss over the course of the three-day tournament came against Kaukauna’s Jager Eisch (46-3) in the semifinals. Eisch earned a 4-2 decision, and went on to win the state title at 126.
Cherba (42-11) won five of the six matches he wrestled at state, and defeated Badger’s Jake Stritetsky (39-6) for third place at 132.
“He wrestled back really strong and got back to the third-place match,” Fitzpatrick said. “He wrestled extremely well. Both those kids (Halter and Cherba) wrestled extremely well to get to the podium.”
Lucas Johnson (47-8) won two of his four matches at 106 pounds. Evan Danowski (43-12) also won two of his four matches at 160. Zach Kaminski (43-15), like the other two, captured two of his four matches at 170.
Fitzpatrick said the time at state will prove invaluable for the wrestlers who competed.
“Experience,” Fitzpatrick said. “You have to learn from your experience.”
The Wolverines advanced to state out of a Division 1 sectional tournament Feb. 22 at St. Catherine’s High School in Racine. The top two in each weight class advance from the sectional tournament to the state tournament.
-
-
-
-
-