By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
The defending Southern Lakes Conference champions needed to bounce back in a big way.
Just one week removed from their first conference dual loss since rejoining the SLC in 2009, the Burlington Demons wrestling squad erased that painful memory with a dominant performance at Saturday’s conference meet.
Burlington, competing with a full lineup for only the second time since Jan. 9, showed its depth across the board at Union Grove High School.
With four champions and four second-place finishers, the Demons posted 251.5 points, well ahead of second-place Lake Geneva Badger (213). Elkhorn was third with 206.
Union Grove placed fourth with 143.5 points and Waterford was fifth with 125.5.
Burlington coach Jade Gribble was happy with his squad, which achieved its first major goal of the season.
“We had a good day,” he said. “We never had to do it this way. We had always won the dual meet side. We knew we had to beat Elkhorn, and we were lucky enough that Badger had a good day. We’ve talked about getting extra points, and we got those today.”
Ben Hornickle got things started in the championship round at 126. He pinned Elkhorn’s Ryan Nelson in 2:58 to finish a perfect 8-0 in the conference.
Hornickle returned from an injury to win his third straight conference title.
Then, at 132, Burlington’s Josh Bird had his hands full with Wilmot’s Jake Morgan. Bird was behind at one point and held a 6-4 lead in the third period before pulling out a 7-5 victory.
Bird improved to 6-0 in conference.
“We knew Bird had to keep pressure on him,” Gribble said. “Josh thinks he can wrestle better, but it was a great battle. Jake is a great wrestler. They’ll probably meet at state.”
At 152, Wes Gavin picked up two dominant victories in the quarterfinal and semifinal before edging Waterford’s Tanner Cadman, 5-4, in the championship. Gavin scored a takedown with 20 seconds remaining to win it.
Burlington’s final champion was at 195. Chris Marks avenged an overtime loss earlier in the season to Elkhorn’s Dylan Linhart by beating him, 3-2, in double overtime Saturday in the semifinal. Then, in the title bout, Marks dominated Union Grove’s Adam Braley in a 9-3 decision.
“Chris Marks had a great day,” Gribble said. “Beating Linhart and Braley was huge.”
Second-place finishers for the Demons included Jose Montez (170), Hegeman Tiedt (182), Greg Miller (220) and Tyler Kirkeeng (285).
Joe Joerndt (113) and Lucas Shenkenberg (138) took third, and Luke Iverson (106), Lance Otter (145) and Isaiah Brenner (160) landed in fourth.
At 120, Robert Elsbury placed sixth.
Burlington’s run toward a third straight team state appearance begins Saturday at the Kenosha Indian Trail Regional.
The top four individuals from each weight class will advance to sectionals, and the team champion moves on to sectionals. Burlington is the two-time defending regional champion.
“Kenosha Bradford has a nice team,” Gribble said. “We just need to go out there and wrestle like we did at conference. We can’t focus on other teams.”
Grove finishes strong
Though Union Grove placed fourth in the team rankings, the Broncos’ heavyweights, their bread and butter all season, finished the meet with a bang Saturday.
The last two championship matches of the day pitted the Grove against Burlington. And in both instances, the Broncos came out victorious.
At 220, Grove’s Cole Ryan held a 5-4 lead over Burlington’s Miller most of the third period. With 30 seconds left in the match, Ryan caught Miller for the pin. The home crowd erupted.
Finally, at 285, Tony Beck dominated Kirkeeng for a 6-0 victory.
Both Ryan (9-0) and Beck (8-0) finished undefeated in conference.
Braley finished second at 195 for the Broncos.
“We know the top three in the conference are pretty tough,” said Union Grove coach Andy Weis. “I’m happy with our results. Our heavyweights were big, and it builds up their confidence.”
At 220, Weis said Ryan continued to hammer away and was impressive. Then, at 285, Beck capitalized on a Kirkeeng fall and was able to hold him the rest of the match.
“Beck put himself in a position to force Kirkeeng to make a move,” Weis said. “We’ll take it.”
The Grove joins Burlington in its Division 1 regional. Bradford, Indian Trails and the Racine schools round out the competition.
“Our younger guys and our heavyweights are wrestling well,” Weis said. “We’ll see what happens. Hopefully we can be up there with Burlington. We had a good showing today. The parents have been super supportive, and it was nice to close out the conference season with those two wins.”
The Grove’s next-best finish was third place by Jack McCann at 182.
Fisher stays perfect
Waterford’s dynamic duo of Max Fisher and Justin Ratkovec just kept rolling along Saturday.
Fisher improved to 41-0 with the 145-pound championship, and Ratkovec won the conference title at 106.
Liam Pritchard was the team’s other champion at 170. At 152, Tanner Cadman took second.
Waterford didn’t compete at four weight classes, and coach Nick Weinkauf said it’s been a tough season full of injuries.
“We didn’t bring four or five wrestlers,” he said. “We’ve been banged up. Ratkovec avenged a loss to Somerville. I thought Max and Liam looked really good. Liam dropped from 182 to 170.”
Waterford finished 3-4 in the dual season and lost some close matches. Weinkauf said injuries cost the Wolverines.
“We can get four kids to state,” he said.
Nick Lancaster (120) and Taylor Teg (285) both finished in fourth place for the Wolverines.
Waterford will compete in the Division 1 Whitnall Regional Saturday. The team took third there last year.
“Hopefully, we can finish in the top three,” Weinkauf said. “We’re hoping to qualify eight kids to sectionals and four to state.”
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