Waterford notches 2nd at conference tournament
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Waterford Union High School coach Tom Fitzpatrick knew his wrestling team needed a near flawless performance to keep Burlington from defending its title in the Feb. 8 Southern Lakes Conference Tournament at Lake Geneva Badger.
To the Wolverines credit, the squad fell just 17 points short against the Demons, which placed them second.
Waterford is now wrestling in the postseason, and will hit the mats Saturday in a WIAA Division 1 regional tournament at Oak Creek High School.
The top four in each weight class at the regional tournament advance to a Division 1 sectional tournament Feb. 22 at The Prairie School in Wind Point.
The top two in each weight class at the sectional tournament advance to the WIAA Division 1 state tournament Feb. 27-29 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick believes his team put a scare into Burlington at the conference tournament.
“We really had almost a perfect day, which is what needed,” Fitzpatrick said of the Wolverines’ effort at the SLC Tournament. “We scared the daylights out of (Burlington).”
The Demons are ranked fourth in Division 1 in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online state team poll.
Waterford, meanwhile, garnered three individual titles.
Lucas Johnson (8-0 SLC) beat Elkhorn’s Joey Showalter (9-1) 11-7 in the title match at 106 pounds.
Hayden Halter (9-0), at 126, beat Elkhorn’s Thomas Slack (8-2) by technical fall (15-0) in four minutes for the title.
Joshua Cherba (6-0) pinned Delavan-Darien’s Jared Greidanus (7-3) in 3:01 to win the championship at 138.
Lucas Winski (7-3) finished second at 145 and Will French came in second at 152. Zach Kaminksi (7-3) finished second at 170.
Hudson Halter (8-3) won two of three contested matches and finished third at 113. Evan Danowski (9-2) came in third at 160.
Jeremy Cherba (3-7) finished fourth at 120 and Jacob Cherba (6-5) finished fourth at 182.
Ryan Trafelet (4-5) earned Fitzpatrick’s praised after finishing fourth at 195.
Hunter Rudzinski (6-5) finished fifth at 132 and Gavin Morawetz (6-2) finished fifth at 285.
Waterford finished with 222.5 points as a team. Burlington won the title with 239.5 points.
Union Grove finished third (185.5), Elkhorn fourth (165) and Wilmot fifth (114). Westosha Central (110), Delavan-Darien (108) and Badger (74.5) rounded out the bottom three.
The Wolverines finished 5-2 in regular season SLC dual meets, losing only to Burlington and Union Grove.
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