On Saturday, February 11, the Whitewater Wrestling Team competed in the Regional Wrestling Tournament held in Jefferson. The tournament consisted of 13 teams, each attempting to achieve top two status to advance to the team sectional with the top four individuals to qualify for individual sectionals. After a grueling day of competition, the Whitewater team defended their title from a year ago, clinching the team title, outdistancing Martin Luther who took second place. As a team, Whitewater will travel to Evansville to compete in the team sectional against Belmont/Platteville, a team that came out of a very strong region.
Individually, Whitewater wrestled very well throughout the day. Traysen Thomason and Aaron Porras led the way for the Whippets, each of them winning their first individual Regional championships at 138 and 160 pounds. Traysen wrestled very well throughout the day winning a very exciting semi-final match 9-8 and then a championship match 8-4. Aaron Porras started his day with two pins and then a very tough match in the championship winning 6-5.
Coming in second for Whitewater were CJ Tomomitsu, Connor Friend, and Odair Porras. CJ and Connor each lost in the championship match against very tough competitors, putting up a good match but coming up short. Odair lost in the semi-finals, won his third-place match, and then had the opportunity to wrestle for true second. He wrestled very well in the 2nd place match to move up the podium.
Taking third place and also qualifying for sectionals were Jasen Porras, Victor Hernandez, and Payton Lyon. Jasen and Victor won their third-place match. Victor did not get a wrestle back as he had already wrestled the 2nd place person, and Jasen lost in the wrestle back so he held onto 3rd place. Payton had a very tough loss in the championship. He nearly pinned his opponent in the championship but ended up losing. It was tough to come back from the loss, and he ended in third place, yet still qualified for the sectional.
The individual qualifiers will compete on Saturday, also in Evansville.
Action photos courtesy of Bob Mischka.
