Whitnall Wrestlers End Duals Season With 73-6 Drubbing of Greenfield

The crosstown traffic was all one-way Wednesday night as the wrestlers took city bragging rights with a 73-6 win over Greenfield. The Battle of the Birds saw the Falcons take five matches by pins, six by forfeit, and one each by decision and major decision, while the Hawks had a single win, a pin in overtime.

As a result of all the pins and forfeits, the entire meet required only 25.5 minutes of actual mat time.

Three Whitnall wrestlers earned their 30th wins of the season in the contest at their home gym. Anthony Senthavisouk, Troy McGee and John McGee reached the elite plateau, joining Mason Howard, who had hit that level earlier this month.

It was the final Woodland Conference match for both teams, Whitnall finishing fourth in the standings and Greenfield seventh.

The meet opened with wins by four of the seven seniors in the Falcons starting lineup. Ty Fischer (170 pounds) started the onslaught with a :30 pin. Sam Howard then won by forfeit, Jeremy Brunner pinned his opponent in 1:34 and Alex Sterling took only :32 to post a pin.

Whitnall then put the contest out of reach with five consecutive forfeits, the wins going to Ethan Harycki, Senthavisouk, Joe Price, Blake Leslie and Peter Moore. Dylan Kellner and Troy McGee followed with decisions. Kellner won by an 8-4 margin. McGee's 30th win was a 15-2 major decision over Greenfield's Dominic Kroll, a co-captain generally regarded as one of the Hawks' best wrestlers.

The string of Falcon victories was interrupted when senior co-captain Evan Olson suffered a heartbreaking loss in his final home dual match. Olson led Greenfield's Turner Panich 6-3 after two periods, but Panich fought back to tie the match in the closing seconds of the final period. Nearly a minute into sudden-death overtime, as the two vied for an advantage, Olson mistakenly thought he had scored a takedown and let up momentarily. Panich quickly took advantage of the situation, rolling Olson onto his back and pinning him.

Two more Whitnall seniors then closed out the meet with pins. Mason Howard's came in the second period and was his 138th win overall, eighth best in the history of the program. John McGee ended the night with a first-period pin, win number 30 this season for the 160-pounder.

Woodland Tourney Ahead

"We finished in the conference standings right where we were picked to be in the pre-season," said coach John Quinlan, not entirely satisfied but already looking ahead to the Feb. 4 Woodland Conference tournament at Cudahy.

"We're hoping to get everybody healthy over the next week," the coach said. "Now it's just a matter of focusing on technique in practice, and then turning it up, because this is the time to peak."

As to who might contend for a conference championship, Quinlan knows that a lot can depend on how the conference's coaches assemble their lineups as they shift wrestlers among weight classes to find the most advantageous matchups. "To some degree it's going to depend on who wrestles where," said Quinlan, "but potentially we could have four or five guys in the finals.

"Anthony (Senthavisouk) has a good shot, but there are at least four good wrestlers in his weight class. Troy (McGee) has had a great January (12-0). He's been wrestling really well and tonight was a good example. (Greenfield's Dominic) Kroll is really good, but tonight Troy dominated him. Mason (Howard), of course, should be there, and John McGee could be, too.

"A lot depends on who's wrestling well," added Quinlan. "Some guys are just tired at this point and want to get the season over with. But for others, this is the chance to really get it going. Hopefully we'll all be peaking, because this is the time to do it."

PinPoints:

• 48 parents of wrestlers and managers were on hand for Wednesday night's annual Parents Night/Senior Night recognition.
• Junior varsity wrestlers posting wins Wednesday night were Alec Bartosiak, Ryan Olson, Amol Mody and Ben Stojcevic.
• The junior varsity will be wrestling Saturday in an invitational tournament at Whitefish Bay.
• Though Wednesday's meet was one-sided, it hasn't always been that way. Overall, Greenfield leads the series between the two schools 26-12.