Whitnall's Mason Howard Earns Trip to WIAA State Wrestling Tourney

It didn't happen until the very last match of a very long day of wrestling, but Mason Howard extended Whitnall High School's string of consecutive appearances in the WIAA State Wrestling Tournament to 23 years Saturday.

The senior co-captain scored an 11-2 decision over Waterford's Max Fisher for his 47th win of the season. More importantly, the win earned Howard second place in the sectional tournament at Waukesha West and with it the ticket to the tourney that gets under way Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison.

"All I can think of right now is that a couple of weeks ago I took out an index card and wrote down today's date and 'make it to state' and drew a box next to it and now I can put a check in that box," said Howard after his final match. "It seems like it took way too long," he added. Howard has wrestled in more than 150 varsity matches for Whitnall, winning the vast majority of them, but this will be his first trip to Madison, and it comes on the heels of his first Woodland Conference championship.

Howard, whose left eyebrow is still slightly swollen and showing a half-dozen stitches acquired in a regional match a week ago, started the day with a pin and a decision before losing a 14-6 decision to Burlington's Willie Ehlen (43-3) who had also beaten him a week earlier. That set up the second-place match with Fisher, who Howard had beaten 4-2 a week ago.

"I kind of knew what he would do," said the Falcon 145-pounder. "And then my nerves were kicking in."

Howard will meet Wausau West sophomore Travis Hettinga (43-5) in the state tourney opener Thursday afternoon. "I'll be working on things I'm good at, and just putting in a lot of hard work," said Howard as he looked to the big week ahead.

He's no stranger to hard work, according to his coaches, one of whom is his dad, assistant Mike Howard. The elder Howard--and at least six other family members who were on hand Saturday--were justifiably proud of Mason's accomplishment, but none more so than Falcon head coach John Quinlan.

"I'm so happy for him," said Quinlan. "It would have been a shame if he hadn't qualified. He worked way too hard for it not to happen. He's our hardest worker, he's our most talented kid, and he ended up making it."

Competing in what is regarded as the toughest of the eight state sectional tournaments, Howard's teammates were less fortunate. Freshman Anthony Senthavisouk (106 pounds) won his opening match but became the 44th victim of Waukesha South's undefeated Bill Prochniewski, odds-on favorite to win a state title. Wrestling for second place and a state berth, Senthavisouk lost a 5-2 double overtime decision to West Allis Central's Tere White.

When the two met earlier this year, White dominated that match. "(Co-head coach Craig) Austin and I both thought Anthony did exceptionally well today. That match shows how far he's come along," said Quinlan.

"For the most part, the whole day went pretty much as we expected," he said.

Whitnall's other three qualifiers, all seniors, were eliminated in the opening round in which they were paired against top competition. Co-captain Evan Olson lost to West Allis Hale's Andy Moyle (32-5), who won the 138-pound division. John McGee (160) was pinned by West Allis Central's Eric Vis (45-5), who went on to qualify for the state tourney. Woodland Conference champ Ty Fischer (170), who was battling illness, was beaten by Hale's Jack Allen (38-5), the eventual winner in that weight class.