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Health & Fitness

Whitnall Wrestlers Rebound, Earn Three Wins Saturday

After a lopsided loss in the season opener, Whitnall High School's wrestlers pull together to win three out of five matches Saturday.

Despite being 20 pounds lighter than most of his opponents, Sam Howard notched four pins in winning five matches Saturday, leading wrestlers to a 3-2 record in the Tom Manley Duals at East Troy.

Howard, who weighs 175 pounds, wrestled in the 195-pound division in all five matches.

Fellow co-captain Mason Howard (unrelated to Sam) also had a perfect day, posting three pins while winning five matches.

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The Falcons defeated Sun Prairie 46-32, Union Grove 57-16, and Green Bay Southwest 43-24. The losses were to Harvard, Ill., 49-19, and West Allis Central, 43-21.

Alex Sterling pinned one opponent and decisioned three others en route to a 4-1 day. Jeremy Brunner, Troy McGee, John McGee and freshman Tony Senthavisauk each had three wins for the Falcons. Evan Olson, Dylan Kellner and Joe Price also added pins for Whitnall.

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Reflecting on the comeback after dropping the season opener to Pewaukee Wednesday, Coach John Quinlan said, "The difference was like night and day between Wednesday and today. The team could have been really down after we got pounded by Pewaukee but the kids really came back. Our easiest match today was the first one, against Green Bay, but that was also probably the worst in terms of performance. We just got better as we went along."

Heavier Weights Impress and Improve

Quinlan, who shares head coaching duties with Craig Austin, was especially pleased with the efforts in the heavier weight classes, where Sam Howard, John McGee, Brunner and Sterling were a combined 15-5. "We haven't been real strong in the upper weights for the last couple of years," he said, "so I was real happy with the effort today." Brunner's showing was particularly noteworthy to the coach. "Jeremy wrestled really well to go 3-2," he said. "He was giving up 50 pounds in weight advantage in a few of those matches."

All three of Whitnall's losses in the young season have come against teams ranked in the top ten statewide in their respective divisions. "We have three losses against three pretty good programs," Quinlan observed.

The Falcons return to action Wednesday at Greendale.

PinPoints:

--Wisconsin Rapids, always among Wisconsin's top high school wrestling teams and most recently ranked number one in the state, suffered a rare defeat Saturday, a 36-33 loss to Mukwonago.

--The Wauwatosa combined team from the Woodland Conference finished second in a dual tournament at Bradley Tech Saturday.

--Peter Moore, Whitnall's expected starter at 120 pounds, continues to recover from a muscle injury suffered the day before the season opener. The rest of the team, according to Coach Quinlan, is healthy.

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