Website Manager

News Detail

24

Jan, 2017

Waunakee wrestling upsets wrestling kingpins Sauk Prairie

It was the biggest win of Mark Natzke’s tenure as head coach of the Waunakee High School wrestling program.

He admitted as much in the aftermath of the Warriors’ Badger North Conference dual meet upset of Sauk Prairie – once ranked sixth in Division 1, according to www.wiwrestling.com, and now sitting at 10th in the polls as of Jan. 18 – Friday at home.

“It was an awesome environment,” said Natzke. “There were exciting matches up and down the lineup. The crowd was into it. It was the loudest I’ve seen the gym for a wrestling match. Our kids I believe may have wrestled their best match of the year.”

While knocking off the Eagles was a huge win, Waunakee wasn’t through. The Warriors also took second Saturday at the Whitnall Zelinski Memorial Duals.

Brimming with confidence, the Warriors (5-0 in conference dual meets) will head to Portage Thursday for a Badger North Conference dual meet. Then on Saturday, they travel to the Wisconsin Dells Invitational.

Waunakee is now in the driver’s seat for the Badger North Conference championship. All they need to do now is keeping winning conference duals and finish one spot behind Sauk Prairie at the conference meet or better. The Warriors figure to be ranked in the next round of polls. They were slated to come out Wednesday, after this edition went to press.

Waunakee 33,

Sauk Prairie 29

Two close matches went the Warriors’ way, as Waunakee started the match off on a roll.

“We knew going in that we had opportunities that we needed to capitalize on,” said Natzke. “We capitalized on every one of them.”

While Natzke said that every single one of the individual matches was important, two big wins at 145 and Ty Miller at 126 played a big role in the victory. However, it was Ben Statz’s 4-0 decision over Matt Bradley at 152 that sealed the win. As for Lorenz, he edged Bryant Schaaf 2-1 in overtime, winning in the Tiebreaker 1 session. Meanwhile, Miller went to the Ultimate Tiebreaker against Gavin Lanke in a 3-3 battle and won.

“Those two matches could have gone either way, and we won them both,” said Natzke.

Pins by Preston Webster (182, 3:44), Reed Ryan (195, 1:31) and Behrett Statz (106, 3:05) padded the point total for Waunakee, as the Warriors won eight matches.

Two close decisions helped the Warriors, as James McFarlane won 7-3 over Hayden Batz Walsh at 220 and Alan Olkowski downed Konnor McNeal 4-0 at 285.

“We started out on a hot streak,” said Natzke. “We won six of the first seven matches. When we started to get a couple of wins early on, the rest of the guys got confidence to keep wrestling through.”

Whitnall Zelinski Memorial Duals

With a record of 4-1, Waunakee took second by defeating a team of Varsity Reserves (78-0), West Allis Central (48-24), Muskego (43-29) and Neenah (36-34).

The Warriors’ only loss on the day came at the hands of Stoughton (46-22), the No. 1 ranked team in Division 1, according to www.wiwrestling.com.

“The kids wrestled great,” said Natzke. “We took second at one of the toughest meets in the state. Four teams there were either ranked or have been ranked this season. We won our pool to get into the championship bracket.”

Miller and Lorenz went 5-0 on the day for Waunakee, while Olkowski, Statz and Jackson Ellis compiled 4-1 records. McFarlane, Webster, Zach Marek, Colton Grindle, Nick Schweitzer and Behrett Statz all went 3-2 to help the cause.

“The biggest thing about Saturday was how our kids were able to compete after coming off a huge win,” said Natzke. “We didn’t have any letdown. We still wrestled well and put in a great tournament.”

Having 12 out of 14 wrestlers with records of at least 3-2 made a big difference.

“The great team thing was, we had different individuals stepping up,” said Natzke. “Everywhere, somebody was stepping up to compete.”

While the Neenah match ended up being close, Waunakee was up 20 points with three matches to go. The Warriors gave up a couple of late pins.

“The meet capped off a great weekend,” said Natzke. “As coaches, we keep telling the guys to go and compete and do the best they can and good things can happen.”

Riverdale JV Tournament

Pinning all of his opponents, Case Kettner took first in the 145-159 pound division at to lead the Waunakee junior varsity wrestling contingent.

Harrison Webster placed second at 127-138, while Robert Reyes (152-161) and Sam Meyers (160-167) placed third.

Taking fourth was Lucas Cook (128-139).

Copyright © 2024 Greensboro United Soccer Association  |  Privacy Policy |  Terms Of Use |  License Agreement |  Children's Privacy Policy  Log In