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Health & Fitness

Whitnall's Howard Eliminated in WIAA State Wrestling Opener; Coach Looks Back, Ahead

Whitnall's Mason Howard is eliminated in first round of WIAA state tourney. Coach Quinlan reflects on a season of growth, which bodes well for the future.

Mason Howard, senior co-captain of Whitnall High School's wrestling team and its most prolific winner, saw his season end Thursday in the opening round of the WIAA state high school wrestling tournament.

A second-period throw by Wausau West's Travis Hettinga became a five-point move as Howard gave up a takedown and back points. Down 7-2 going into the final period, Howard fought back gamely but finished on the short end of a 10-8 final score. When Hettinga lost his next match, that eliminated Howard from participating in the consolation round. The Woodland Conference 152-pound champion ended the season with a 47-6 record.

"I thought we outwrestled (Hettinga)," said John Quinlan, co-head coach of the Falcons, "but the five-point throw proved too much to overcome. We were winning after the first period (2-1) but he caught us in a headlock and we couldn't make it all back up."

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A Year of Growth

Looking back on the 2011-12 season, Quinlan can spot some specific highlights, but it's the overall growth of the team that leaves the lasting impression.

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On the mats, there were victories in the Louisiana trip at Christmas over an Arkansas team that went on to win its division state title, and over another team that was state runner-up in Louisiana. The Falcons also successfully defended their title in Palmyra's invitational tourney. But the intangibles stand out in Quinlan's post-season analysis.

"We started the season without a returning conference champion or state tournament qualifier. We had only two wrestlers who had winning records the previous year--Mason Howard and John McGee. We lost a co-captain at the outset (when Ruben Garcia chose not to return) and that pulled maybe 40 wins out of the lineup," said Quinlan. In addition, Peter Moore, expected to be a varsity starter as a sophomore, was injured in practice and returned only briefly before being sidelined for the season.

"So the major highlight of the season was how much the team grew up," said Quinlan. "That was a pretty nice accomplishment."

The growing up involved 26 different wrestlers starting in one match or another, a factor Quinlan and his co-head coach, Craig Austin, didn't anticipate in the preseason. "We thought we were going to need a couple of freshmen part of the time, besides Anthony Senthavisouk, who we expected to start at 106. We didn't plan on Blake Leslie and Dylan Kellner and Ethan Harycki getting thrown into the fire," Quinlan said.

When the freshmen were getting beaten regularly early in the season, the coaches questioned themselves. "We were asking ourselves, Should we have held these kids back? Are we going to lose these kids if they get discouraged? Would it have been better to hold them back, to get them junior varsity experience?" said Quinlan.

But by mid-season, the freshmen had become solid contributors, eventually accounting for more than 100 wins among them, in no small part due to the seniors on the team. "They really supported the freshmen on the team," Quinlan said. "We knew if we were going to succeed, those kids were going to have to be a big part of it. The seniors kept them positive.

"This is a different senior class. You always get seniors who stick it out because they've been successful, but we've got guys who've persisted, who you've really got to like for the way they've persevered. We've thrown Sam Howard to the wolves a lot, put him in situations where he was outweighed and outmatched just to save points, where his job was not to get pinned. The same is true for Evan Olson.

"Alex Sterling had shoulder surgeries and could have said 'That's enough.' Ty Fischer broke a leg in practice and was out for a year, but he came back to win a conference championship. Jeremy Brunner...we've thrown him to the wolves so many times in the past couple of years when he's been giving away a lot of weight and had to overcome injuries," he said.

Two seniors whose names seldom appear on the program lineup were also important to the team. Ian Hushek had injuries that kept him out of the varsity lineup this year "but he came to every single practice, wanting to help out with whatever he could do," said Quinlan. "And Amol Mody...he had so many other things going on. He excels in academics, he's involved in student government. But the kid's here every day, pushing the other seniors.

"If you're winning ten out of eleven matches, it's easy to be out here. But these guys are the gold medal standard," he said.

"We focus a lot more on the team aspect rather than the individual here at Whitnall," said Quinlan. "We do what we can to get the team win, to win the seven or eight matches it takes. Our kids buy into it for the most part. Most of them know we still have the team and the individual's best interests at heart."

Next Season

"We're still going to be young next season," the coach said. There are only two juniors on the current team--Zach Barnhart and Zach Price. But, while it might not have been intended at the outset of this season, the Falcons will come back with "a lot of kids who definitely have some varsity experience. And a year later we should have 12 or 13 juniors and seniors with 30 to 100 matches under their belts already," the coach predicted. "We'll need to find some kids in the 180 and 195 pound classes, but we're going to be pretty well covered in the lower weights."

PinPoints:

  • Only three Whitnall wrestlers--Mason Howard, Evan Olson and Anthony Senthavisouk--wrestled in every varsity meet during the past season.
  • This is our final blog post for this season, although we'll continue to tweet items of interest on Twitter @whitwrestle. It's been a pleasure writing about such a terrific group of young men. Our thanks to Greenfield Patch editor David Cotey for the opportunity; to the wrestlers and coaching staff for their cooperation; and to a number of parents and fans, notably Doug Barnhart, whose patient explanations helped us keep errors to a minimum.
  • On a purely personal note, we're proud to have completed an entire season of wrestling blog posts without ever--not even once--using any form of the verb "grapple." Or the noun "icon."
  • Wait 'til next year, you iconic grapplers.
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