WRESTLING: Wilmot’s Graham leads area wrestlers

Wilmot’s Joey Graham may have fallen in the conference championship Saturday, but the Wilmot star landed the top performance among area wrestlers (Rick Benavides/The Report).

Falcons McNeill takes third

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

Wilmot junior Joey Graham is seeking redemption after he finished second in the Southern Lakes Conference tournament at 106 pounds at Westosha Central High School Feb. 4.

Graham, who spent most of the season at 113, cut down to 106 pounds, where he won his first two matches on pins Feb. 4 to set up a title match against undefeated Lake Geneva Badger junior Beau LaDu.

Although Graham dropped a 9-4 decision to LaDu, the Panthers’ junior has his sights set on a potential rematch.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, it was the first time I have seen him, I didn’t meet him during any dual meets,” said the 7-2 Graham, noting he primarily competed at 113. “It is what it is and I look to maybe get a win at regionals against him.”

Coach John Watson, whose Panthers’ team finished fifth, agreed, adding the 9-4 loss is an indication Graham could prevail in the future.

“I thought that match was winnable, but we get two more chances at (LaDu), in regionals and the week after that in sectionals,” said Watson.

The Panthers had another wrestler reach the podium at 160 pounds, junior Hunter Valach, who is 8-2.

Valach, who took third, received a first round bye before losing a 7-5 decision to Union Grove’s Alex Rewolinski in the semifinal.

However, Valach bounced back, winning the next two matches on pins, with the first against Lake Geneva’s Austin Pack at 0:58 to set up a third-place showdown against Elkhorn’s Jacob Wilging, who was sent to the mat at 3:38.

“Hunter has become one of our big players this year,” said Watson. “He has earned the most team points and he is doing a great job.”

“I am happy with (Valach, Graham) today, they both wrestled well,” said Watson.

Wilmot notched five 4th-place finishes, starting with 120-pound senior Jacob Wagemann, who received a first-round bye before falling to the mat in the semifinals to Waterford’s Sam Winski.

Wageman (8-2) rebounded in the consolation semifinals, pinning Badger’s David Dublin, setting up a third-place match against Elkhorn’s Coleman Karl, who edged Wagemann on a 11-7 decision.

At 138, junior Larz Gough finished fourth, dropping a 5-4 decision in the third place match to Elkhorn’s Isaac Taylor.

Gough (4-4) won his quarterfinal match against Burlington’s Eli Kiesler before losing to Anthony Christenson of Waterford in the semifinal match.

Other fourth-place finishers were junior Drew Hebior (6-5) at 126, junior Kyler Moudy (3-4) at 132 and freshman Logan Pye (5-2) at 152.

Finishing fifth were Andrew Tucknott (220) and Seth Willis (285) while 145-pound junior Jeremy Toro received sixth after getting disqualified.

McNeill leads short-handed Falcons
With several injuries, Westosha Central High School coach Jason Ladd opted to rest most of the team, which hopes to return a stronger squad for regional competition this week.

“At regionals is where we want to get people healthy, so I did pull a few guys back today to rest them up,” said Ladd. “It’s been a long season. Some of these guys have not been through a full varsity season so I want to get them to full strength.”

Despite finishing seventh, the Falcons had junior Reid McNeill take third to reach the podium at 195 pounds.

McNeill, who drew a first round bye with a 7-3 record, lost the semifinal round before taking his next two matches.

In the consolation semifinals, McNeill pinned Lake Geneva’s Jimmy Stackpool at 2:24 before holding on to a 10-8 decision against Barron Masi to take the third place match.

“I started off rough, but I came back,” said McNeill. “I just listened to the coaches and they instructed me what to do.”

Ladd credited McNeill for keeping up with Masi.

“He kept grinding through it and found a away to win,” he said. “At this time of the year, finding a way to win a match is what you have to do.”

Meanwhile, junior Zach Bell (6-5) picked up fourth at 182, winning two of his four matches, including a first-round pin of Delavan-Darien’s Martin Bautista.

The Falcons received fifth place finishes from Andrew Koroly (4-6) at 113, Jefferson Kearby (5-6) at 132 and Andrew Christensen (3-8) at 138.

“It’s a tough and competitive conference,” said Ladd.

Team scores: 1. Elkhorn 277.5, 2. Waterford 230, 3. Badger 167.5, 4. Burlington 162, 5. Wilmot 117, 6. Union Grove 79, 7. Westosha Central 49, 8. Delavan-Darien 12.


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