Rockets’ ‘team effort’ earns sixth at Mid-States Classic

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

A sixth-place finish at the 41-team Mid-States Wrestling Classic in Whitewater last week had every Cedar Grove-Belgium High School wrestler chipping in.

The Rockets scored 220 points, behind Hersey’s 33.5, Amery’s 293, McHenry’s 270.5, Marian Central Catholic’s 251.5 and Wacounda’s 239.

The only team from Wisconsin to beat the Rockets was Amery. Every other squad is from Illinois. Sixth is the Rockets’ highest finish at the tournament since 2018.

“The whole team actually contributed. Every single guy on our team at least scored a point or two,” coach Trevor Peterson said.

“It was definitely a team effort.”

Seniors Jesse Burg at 126 pounds and Mason Hoopman at 145 did the best for the Rockets, each taking third.

“Those guys had great tournaments,” Peterson said.

Burg (22-2) pinned Brett Appel of Edgerton in 1 minute, 22 seconds, won a 6-2 decision over Drew Woolsey of Downers Grove South, lost a 7-6 decision to Maksim Mukhamedaliyev, pinned Robert Darling of Hononegah in 26 seconds and in the third-place match pinned Cylus Hetzel-Sawyer (14-6) of Horicon in 2:49.

Hoopman (20-4) pinned Gage Romack of Janesville Craig in 3:55, won a 16-3 major decision over Mohammad Zaidan of Appleton North, was pinned by Carter Henschel of West Bend East in 48 seconds, pinned Jakson Hanson of Hersey in 2:39, won a 7-2 decision over Zaidan and won a 7-4 decision over Tyler Starr of Bradley-Bourbonnais.

In the third-place match, Hoopman pinned Henschel in 4:04.

“Mason lost to that kid in the quarterfinal match and got a little payback and took it to him for third,” Peterson said.

Senior Diego Morales (20-3), a three-time state qualifier who was fourth last year, took fourth at 285 pounds.

He pinned Austin Waldal of Union Grove, William Cole of Round Lake in 1:43, lost a 17-8 major decision to defending state champ Jackson Mankowski (23-2) of Madison LaFollette, won a 7-2 decision over Max Stuhlmacher (18-4) of Nicolet and in the third-place match was pinned by Oleg Simakov (20-5) of Hersey in 2:07.

Joe Schoeder (19-5) at 182 pounds was sixth. He pinned Hunter Birkhoff of Marian Central Catholic in 1:00, Cody Slater of Janesville Parker in 5:14, was pinned by Wyatt Ingham of Amery in 1:04, won an 11-3 major decision over Sean Christensen of Wauconda, a 7-3 decision over Anthony Cambria (20-8) of Hersey, lost a 3-2 decision to A.J. Mancilla (27-2) of Bradley Bourbonnais and in the fifth-place match lost a 6-3 decision to Elliot Diemel (20-4) of Hononegah.

Owen Morgan (19-6) was seventh at 170 pounds. He pinned John Fusco of Delavan-Darien in 49 seconds, lost a 9-7 decision to Hunter Williams of Waukesha North, won a 9-1 major decision over Christian Cendejaz of Wauconda, a 10-2 major decision over Will Morrison of New Trier, pinned Tye Crist of Darlington-Blackhawk in 1:42, was pinned by Logan Gregor (16-6) of West Bend East and in the seventh-place match won an 8-2 decision over Tyus Almasy (15-9) of Morton.

Winston Reichle (16-8) was seventh at 152 pounds. He pinned Carter Arbuckle of Brookwood in 2:33, was pinned by Eli Polacek of New Trier, pinned Ezra Bowman-Barnes of Appleton North, won a 14-6 major decision over Maverick Goulet, won an 8-3 decision over Nathan Huff of Delavan-Darien, lost a 7-4 decision to Nick Cheshier (21-4) of Wauconda and in the seventh-place match pinned Parker Sena of Hersey in 3:00.

Peterson said he liked that many of his wrestlers were in “grinder” matches.

“It can be a long day of hard, tough wrestling. We definitely won some close matches which was good to see,” he said.

Owen Race (16-8) was 11th at 132 pounds, and Gavin Davies (14-10) was 12th at 138 pounds.

Carsen Voskuil (16-5) scored seven points at 106 pounds. Deven Soerens (2-2) scored six points at 220 pounds. Jordan Platner (7-6) scored five points at 195 pounds. Body Kraus (1-2) scored four points at 160 pounds. Seth Kessen (9-11) scored three points at 120 pounds. Seth Race (5-7) scored one point at 113 pounds.

The Rockets host Big East Conference foe Reedsville on Thursday, Jan. 5, and the Rocket Invite on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Mills places for Ozaukee

Ozaukee scored 46.5 points and finished 34th at the Mid-States Classic.

Junior Skyler Mills (17-8) was the team’s only place winner, taking seventh at 195 pounds.

He won a 3-2 decision over Joe Flores of Wauconda, was pinned by Nick Gregg of Janesville Craig in 1:00, won a 3-1 decision over Cayden Ghere of Bradley-Bourbonnais, a 9-2 decision over Tellyer Alix of Weyauwega-Fremont, was pinned by Carter Wesley of Janesville Parker in 3:34 and in the seventh-place match pinned Keandre Miles of Downers Grove South in 3:00.

“Skyler wrestled really smart, had a nice tournament, winning a lot of battle matches. He’s getting better every week at winning tight ones,” coach Cole Large said.

Mya Delleree (15-7) at 113 pounds went 2-2 and scored 6.5 points.

She pinned Seth Race of Cedar Grove-Belgium in 3:53, was pinned by Alejandro Cordova (20-6) of Round Lake in 1:17, won an 18-3 technical fall over Bryce Twardokus of Horicon and lost a 15-0 tech fall to Addullokh Khakimov (18-7) of Hersey.

“Mya had a solid tournament. She ran into some studs but she performed well,” Large said.

Charlie Steinert at 120 pounds, Michael Higginbotham at 138 and Jovan Lopez at 285 each scored six points. Grady Klas at 220 pounds scored one point.

The Warriors wrestle in the Port Invite on Friday, Jan. 6, and at Plymouth on Tuesday, Jan. 10.