Posted: Feb. 15, 2010 |(0) Comments

Muskego — With six individual wins and the title at the Waukesha South Regional, the Muskego wrestling team made a statement Saturday: The Warriors are ready for the postseason.

Muskego dominated its sectional. In addition to the six champions, three more wrestlers advanced to Saturday's Oconomowoc Sectional on Saturday by placing third (the top four at each weight class advance). Those nine efforts helped the Warriors to 194.5 points, well ahead of second-place Brookfield East's 165 in the eight-team tournament.

The regional win advanced Muskego to the team sectional final against Mukwonago, held Tuesday in Elkhorn, after deadline. The Warriors were vying for their third straight team state berth and their ninth overall.

There were no major surprises at the regional and two Muskego athletes moved within a win of joining the 40-victory club.

Justin Scherkenbach continued his impressive season with a pair of pins en route to the 112-pound title. He pinned Wauwatosa's Jonathan Tripi in the semifinals and New Berlin's Heng Vang in 2 minutes, 19 seconds in the finals to improve to 39-4.

The Warriors' 189-pounder Jordan Gruettner also improved to 39-4 with two falls. He needed just 38 seconds to down Waukesha South's Tony Garcia in the finals after taking just 25 seconds to beat Waukesha West's Nick Wall in the semis.

Jordan Lau (36-6) dominated to the tune of one pin and two shutouts en route to the title at 140. He blanked Brookfield East's Andy Wanta, 7-0, in the championship round and Waukesha West's Seth Gantz, 3-0, in the semis after pinning Waukesha North's Anthony Escobedo in the first period of the quarterfinals.

After receiving a first-round bye, Tyler Quartullo (33-4) had little trouble the rest of the way, including an 11-0 major decision over Brookfield East's Kevin Dentino in the 130-pound finals.

Roland Dunlap, at 171, won for the 19th time in 20 tries since returning from a shoulder injury. He scored a 14-4 major decision over New Berlin's Nick Binder in the title match.

Jordan Sowinski (19-3) locked down the Warriors' final title with a 6-0 victory over Kyle Johnson of Waukesha South in the first-place match, Sowinski's third win of the day.

Tyler Sinda (31-13) lost in overtime, 10-8, to New Berlin's Hlu Vang in the semifinals at 103, but rebounded to beat Waukesha South's Bill Prochniewski, 14-1, in the third-place match, one of three Warriors to take third. The others were Alex Kehoe (29-11) at 215 and Ryan Leighton (30-13) at 285. Kehoe was edged, 5-4, by Brookfield East's Tyler Lecher in the semifinals.

Saturday's individual sectional is at 9:30 a.m. The top two individuals in each weight class advance to the individual state tournament.

 

- David Cotey