Whitnall's Howard, Fischer Win Woodland Wrestling Titles

One championship was expected, the other wasn't ... except perhaps by the guy who won it.

wrestler Mason Howard finally got the championship that has eluded him for the past three years and surprised no one. Ty Fischer was seeded fifth and, on that basis, wasn't a clear favorite to win any match, let alone all of them.

Howard, wrestling at 152 pounds, was top-seeded, had a first-round bye and defeated Greenfield's Tyler Dorfner in the semifinals. Howard had a similarly dominating performance in the finals, beating Pewaukee's Jake Paget 14-4, Paget's first loss to a Woodland Conference opponent this season. The victory margin was padded by a point assessed against Paget's coach, Ed Kurth, for questioning a referee's competence.

"I'm very happy for Mason," said Whitnall coach John Quinlan. "He's sixth or seventh on our all-time win list, but this is the first time he's getting on the wall," he said, referring to the team's Wall of Champions that recognizes individual championships. "He finally came through, and really dominated his weight class," Quinlan said.

The senior co-captain is the son of assistant coach Mike Howard and was runner-up both last year and in his freshman year, and placed third in the conference two years ago as a sophomore.

Fischer, also a senior, opened with a come-from-behind 7-6 decision that earned him the dubious honor of facing top-seeded Brandon Baradic of Pewaukee, unbeaten in conference action. Fischer trailed Baradic 3-0 before rallying for a 6-3 win. The Whitnall wrestler then controlled the final match, pinning his Wauwatosa opponent in 4:40.

"Ty was probably the most surprising of all the conference champions," Quinlan said. "It was pretty amazing. He worked hard to be in the right position to win, and he took advantage of it. We tell our guys that every year somebody who's seeded fourth or fifth or sixth comes through and wins. Ty was seeded fifth, and he did it."

Whitnall finished fourth overall, behind champion Pewaukee, Wauwatosa and South Milwaukee in the Cudahy gym. The finish mirrored the order of the dual meet season.

In one of the day's most anticipated matchups, Whitnall freshman Anthony Senthavisouk lost a 6-4 decision in the finals to Wauwatosa's Kai Castaneda, who is ranked fifth in the state. Senthavisouk decisioned Pewaukee's highly regarded Isaac Lodise in overtime en route to the championship match. Lodise had beaten Senthavisouk earlier in the season and had lost to Castaneda.

Eight other Whitnall wrestlers made it to the podium where the top five in each weight class are awarded medals. Seniors John McGee and Sam Howard finished third. Senior Alex Sterling and underclassmen Joe Price, Blake Leslie and Ethan Harycki added fourth place points to the team total. Senior co-captain Evan Olson and freshman Dylan Kellner rounded out the podium finishes with fifth-place medals.

Freshman Harycki missed third by the slimmest of margins--a single point in the third period of overtime.

Sophomore Troy McGee, unbeaten in 12 January matches and expected to be a prime contender for the 132-pound medal, was injured in practice Wednesday and did not compete.

"If we'd had Troy, we might have moved up a spot," said Quinlan. "We wound up throwing five freshmen into the tournament, but I think we did a solid job. There were a few that we expected better from, and a few who did better than we expected, so it evened out.

"Overall, we're very happy with the outcome. It showed how far we've come since December," Quinlan said.

Next up for the Falcons is the eight-team WIAA Regional Tournament, which the local team will host next Saturday.