Oak Creek senior leads the Wey
Knights' four-time qualifier among large state contingent
Oak Creek senior Kyle Wey highlights a group of 11 local wrestlers scheduled to compete at the WIAA Individual State Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison today through Saturday.
Wey qualified for his fourth state trip by winning the 189-pound title at the Racine Park Sectional on Saturday. Wey, who improved to 34-3 this season and 115-26 in his career, edged Racine Case's Ryan Ross, 8-5, in the final, which was Wey's third win of the day.
Wey, who is 1-4 all-time in state matches, is one of just three local returning state qualifiers. Whitnall senior Zach Noel (44-6) will be making his third trip after winning the sectional with a 10-4 decision over Greenfield's Taylor Wirtz in the 130-pound championship match at Park.
Noel is 1-3 in career state matches but his 44 wins are tied with two other wrestlers for the most in the 16-wrestler Division 1 130-pound field.
Franklin junior Sam Kortes (41-5) is also returning to state for a third time. He too is 1-3 in career state matches and is coming off a 15-0 technical fall of Bradley Tech's Ferriez Johnson in the 112 sectional final.
Three other Franklin wrestlers won sectional crowns to earn their first state berths. Colin DeClark (29-14) advanced with a pin in 3 minutes, 14 seconds of Cudahy/St. Francis' Mitch Kraker in the 119-pound final; Adam Stello (36-10) narrowly defeated Oak Creek's Jeremiah Butler, 7-5, in the title match at 135; and Adam Langowski (29-9) toppled Oak Creek's Josh Regazzi, 6-4, in the 160 final.
The remaining five local state qualifiers were sectional runners-up:
• Franklin's Steve Anderson (17-11) at 145 and Kyle Smith (32-11) at 152;
• Oak Creek's Regazzi (24-14) and Mitch Dolan (22-10) at 171; and
• Whitnall's Kameron Bourgeois (41-7) at 103.
Smith, Regazzi and Dolan needed victories in second-place wrestlebacks to advance.
Five local wrestlers placed third, one spot away from qualifying. The most notable miss was Butler (23-15) at 135. After going 1-1 at the state tournament a year ago, he went 2-2 at the sectional, including an injury default loss in the second-place wrestleback after getting beat by Franklin's Stello.
Also taking third were Franklin's Lee Smith (140), Oak Creek's Matt Blower (125) and Whitnall's Demetrius Wall (112) and Nathan Barnhart (36-13). Blower, Wall and Barnhart all had 30 or more wins this season.
Fourth-place wrestlers were Franklin's Chris Clapper (130) and Whitnall's Mason Howard (125), a pair of 30-plus-win wrestlers, and Oak Creek's Joey Swick (103) and Mike Heard (285).
Five Sabers - Sam Tyczkowski (125), JT Turnbough (171), Matt Grabowski (189), Jordan Herrmann (215) and Brenden Butler (285) - lost their first-round matches. Of those five, Tyczkowski (32) had the most wins, and Butler lost in overtime, 6-4, to Oak Creek's Heard.
Oak Creek's Jake Schmidt (119), Matt Hampson (130) and Randy Maas (140) lost in the first round, as did Whitnall's Matt Price (135), Zach Menden (140), Stefan Gudry (145) and Ruben Garcia (119).
Garcia (31-16) was upset by South Milwaukee's Brandon Unger (14-22) by a 6-1 decision.
- David Cotey
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