Port nearly wins regional mat title

The Port Washington High School wrestling team was a few winnable matches from qualifying for a Division 1 team sectional, but the Pirates still advanced 11 of 14 wrestlers at Saturday’s regional in Slinger.

Nick Bensen and Ever Armendariz each picked a good time to win their first high school tournament, and Jacob Peacy won his weight class.

Brandon Grabowski and Diego Armendariz finished second.

Brodie Brecke, Kaiden Schumacher, Brady Krueger and J.D. Brahm took third, and Nick Gonzalez and Aiden Drotzur were fourth. The top four go to the sectional.

Arrowhead won the eight-team regional with 216 points, followed by Port’s 197.5. Germantown was third with 163.5, and Slinger was fourth with 153.5.

“I thought we wrestled really well. We lost a couple of winnable matches,” coach Angelo LaRosa said. “We had three champs. You always want more. Getting 11 of 14 through was good.”

Some people told LaRosa they didn’t know the Pirates were that good. That made sense since this was the second time Port fielded a full lineup this season.

Bensen (24-10) at 195 pounds pinned Samuel Lippold (14-22) of Hartford in 5 minutes, 30 seconds, beat Jack Gerlach (11-17) by a 15-0 technical fall in 4:17 and in the final beat Arrowhead’s Dylan Polczynski (22-16) in a 13-6 decision.

Peacy (36-9) at 220 was barely on the mat for two minutes. He pinned Josh Weber (14-19) of Slinger in 35 seconds and in the final pinned Adam Lois (20-16) of Oconomowoc in 1:30.

Ever Armendariz (25-13) at 285 pounds pinned Dante Thao (6-16) of Hamilton in 38 seconds, beat Jacky McClintock (20-10) of Slinger in an 8-6 decision and in the final beat Jackson Kirsch (23-11) of Germantown in a 6-4 decision.

“They all kind of dominated,” LaRosa said of his champions.

Grabowski (28-14) at 145 pounds pinned Eli Rabideau (30-15) of Germantown in 32 seconds before being pinned by Aidan Ford (37-3) of Slinger in 5:37. Grabowski had beaten Ford, 10-6, a week before in the North Shore Conference meet.

With the match tied late, Grabowski “went for a move and ended up pinning himself,” LaRosa said.
In the second-place match, Grabowski beat Aaron Cummings (30-8) of Hartford in a 9-3 decision. He pinned Cummings in the NSC final on Feb. 4.

Diego Armendariz (8-12) beat Nathaniel Behrndt (25-10) of Hamilton in a 6-2 decision and pinned Jacob Momper (28-14) of Germantown in 1:58 before being pinned by Arrowheads’s Noah Mulvaney (39-1), a state runner-up last season, in 2:56 in the final.

“He just got in the varsity lineup full time,” LaRosa said.

“I think he’s the best 8-12 guy in the state.”

At 113 pounds, Brecke (16-10) pinned Braxton Sievert (3-8) of Germantown in 53 seconds, lost an 8-6 decision to Chase Allar (21-17) of Hartford and in the third-place match pinned Kaiden Snyder (12-15) of Oconomowoc in 50 seconds.

Schumacher (32-12) at 126 pounds pinned Cedarburg’s Evan Sova (13-23) in 59 seconds, lost a 9-5 decision to Arrowhead’s Connor Crumer (29-11) and for third-place pinned Nolan Skinner (27-17) of Slinger in 44 seconds.

At 132 pounds, Krueger (32-12) beat Brady Jensen (26-26) of Oconomowoc in a 6-4 sudden victory, lost an 8-2 decision to Arrowhead’s Nate Druckrey (39-10) and for third place pinned Nate Tillman (20-15) of Hartford in 3:02.

Brahm at 182 lost a 7-6 decision to Tanner Theisen (25-13) of Arrowhead and beat Carter Amidon (20-13) of Slinger by injury default.
Gonzalez (18-19) at 132 pounds pinned Justus Castillo (12-11) of Hamilton in 5:04, was pinned by Arrowhead’s Wyatt Duchateau (39-0) in 1:04, lost a 14-2 major decision to Caleb Pekrul (25-10) of Hartford and for fourth place beat Grant Dickenson (21-22) of Slinger via forfeit.

Drotzur (23-14) won a 6-2 decision over Kaiden Bavuso (38-13) of Oconomowoc, was pinned by Hartford’s Noah Deibert (31-7) in 3:16 and lost a 3-2 decision to Blake Riphenburg (15-8) of Arrowhead for third place.

“We lost just a bunch of winnable matches where we took second or third. But our regional is so tough,” LaRosa said, adding there’s one state champion at 113 pounds, one likely to win it all at 132 and a possible third at 170.

“We had some guys really step up and are peaking at the end of the season.”

Port competes at the Oshkosh North sectional on Saturday, where the top two finishers qualify for state.

“I like a lot of our draws,” LaRosa said.

Krause, Fandler lead Grafton quartet

Nathan Krause has been Grafton’s best wrestler all season, and Daniel Fandler came back from injury just in time to make it two regional champs for the Black Hawks.
James Volkmann and Ben Birch each took second to advance from the East Troy Division 2 sectional on Saturday. The four wrestle at the Waupun sectional on Saturday, where the top three finishers qualify for state.

Martin Luther won the six-team event with 246 points. East Troy had 221 and Grafton had 146.

Krause (37-12) at 220 pounds pinned Anders Haas (5-14) of Shoreland Lutheran in 42 seconds and LaShawn Wesley-Carter (24-9) of Martin Luther in 3:05 in the final.

“He’s been pulling our team pretty much at every tournament, placing pretty high, doing really well,” coach Andrew Wagner said.

Fandler (9-6) pinned Gabe Bixby (18-17) in 51 seconds and won a 9-6 decision over Solomon Stoddard (20-14) of Martin Luther in the finals.

“It was great to see him back and going in full stride,” Wagner said.

Birch (24-21) at 182 pounds was pinned by Jalen Perera (15-7) of Martin Luther in 5:13 before pinning Jakob Markley (15-30) of East Troy in 5:49 for second.

Volkmann (8-16) at 132 pounds won a 9-6 decision over Spencer Johnson (19-27) of East Troy before being pinned by Melvin Finkley (15-10) of Martin Luther in 1:38 in the finals.

“Both of those guys have come a long way since the season started,” Wagner said of Birch and Volkmann, adding this is the first time they qualified for the sectional.

Ethan Timothy (8-22) at 106 pounds, Alex Vincent (10-16) at 138, Louis Berns (15-20) at 170 and John Olmr (24-21) at 195 each took third.

Many of Grafton’s 10 wrestlers at the regional are young and will be back after a learning experience this season.

“There’s been a lot of really good development. All the kids have really improved and made the best of the season they had,” Wagner said.