New Berlin, Muskego gearing up for postseason
Muskego wins Southeast tourney; New Berlin third in Woodland Conference
The New Berlin wrestling team was shut out of the championship match in 12 of 14 flights but managed to finish third as 11 of 13 wrestlers placed in the top six at the nine-team Woodland Conference Tournament at Whitnall on Saturday.
Zach Brucker earned New Berlin's lone title when he defeated Pewaukee's Chris Czech, 11-2, in the finals at 135 pounds. Brucker improved to 37-5 with three wins at the tournament.
New Berlin's Nick Binder (35-5) also reached the title bout but fell, 8-5, to Pewaukee's Travis Decker at 171.
"We had a good showing, but could have done better," New Berlin coach Nick Patenaude said. "There were a couple of matches that we lost but had won when we wrestled in the dual and that is always a little disappointing. The encouraging thing about the weekend is we wrestled with a couple of jayvee wrestlers filling in because of injuries and they were both able to earn points for the team."
Jake Reuteler (152) was third and Heng Vang (112), Ross Riopelle (119) and Jonny Schmidt (130) were fourth. The team's 103-pounder, Hlu Vang, who is 29-7, sat out with a concussion.
Pewaukee, the undefeated regular season league champion - the only conference team to beat New Berlin this winter - won the tournament with 221 points. Greenfield was second with 173.5 and New Berlin third with 145, 1.5 better than fourth-place Whitnall.
"We are ready to turn it up and get after it on Saturday," Patenaude said, referring to the upcoming regional at Waukesha South. "We are looking to qualify 10 wrestlers to sectionals and then get some wrestlers to the state tournament. We have had a great couple of weeks in the practice room, and a couple of guys that were dinged up were able to heal. We are very excited about the next few weeks and can't wait to start the tournament series."
Southeast Conference - The Muskego Warriors won seven individual titles en route to their seventh consecutive team title at the Southeast Conference Tournament at Racine Horlick on Saturday.
Their 244.5 points easily outdistanced second-place Kenosha Tremper's 213.5 and third-place Franklin's 191.5.
"I told the kids coming in here that we wanted to show everyone who was the best," Muskego coach Ted Price said. "We knew what people were saying about us. I was very confident coming in. I was most pleased with how they stepped it up."
Muskego won the dual-meet title in the league for the fourth consecutive year, but there were still doubts about the team's ability to win the tournament title.
Not anymore.
Sophomore Justin Scherkenbach, ranked No. 1 in Division 1 at 112 pounds by The Crossface magazine, won the biggest final of the day when he defeated Franklin junior Sam Kortes, ranked No. 4 in Division 1 at 119, by a 7-2 decision in the 112 final.
That started a parade of champions for Muskego.
In title matches, junior Tyler Quartullo defeated Franklin's Chris Clapper, 7-0, at 130; senior Jordan Lau earned a major decision over Tremper's Justin Shepherd, 17-8, at 145; senior Jordan Sowinski pinned Ricky Obert in 1 minute, 56 seconds, at 152; sophomore Roland Dunlap downed Racine Case's Justin Hergins, 9-3, at 171; sophomore Jordan Gruettner knocked off Oak Creek's Kyle Wey, 12-6, at 189; and senior Ryan Leighton won by technical fall, 20-5, over Franklin's Brenden Butler at 285.
Sowinski and Quartullo recently returned from injuries, and Dunlap proved he is over a shoulder injury suffered early in the year.
"That's the one I'm most proud of," said Price. "The guys who came back from injury didn't show any ill effects for being out. That's more impressive than anything. Hopefully, we can keep it going for the next couple weeks."
The Warriors were runners-up in two flights: Tyler Sinda at 103 and Alex Kehoe at 215.
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this story.
Up next
WHO: Muskego and New Berlin wrestling teams
WHAT: WIAA regional tournament
WHEN: 10 a.m. Saturday
WHERE: Waukesha South High School, 401 E. Roberta Ave.
LOWDOWN: Muskego and New Berlin will compete with Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, the Wauwatosa co-op and three Waukesha schools - North, South and West. The first four wrestlers at each level advance to the sectional, to be held in Oconomowoc on Feb. 20. The winning team advances to the team sectional to be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Elkhorn.
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