Five wrestlers from Shawano Community High School ran the gauntlet Saturday at the Green Bay/Preble WIAA Regional and survived to compete another day.
Wyatt Welch (106 pounds), Danny Darling (113), Austin Oreskovic (126), Jarrett Laasch (145) and Damon Braatz (285) all finished in the top four to advance to the Green Bay West/Southwest Sectional, which begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
“We’re very happy with getting five into the sectional,” Shawano coach Michael Homan said. “We’d had a two-week layoff before the regional, so we weren’t sure if we’d qualify that many, but a lot of our wrestlers beat guys who’d beaten them earlier in the year. The kids really turned a corner and wrestled well.”
The top four finishers at Division 1 regionals advance to sectional competition, and the top two finishers at the sectionals continue onto the state finals.
Wyatt knocked off Jacob Zellner of Green Bay Preble/Green Bay East 5-2 before pinning West De Pere’s Drew Willems at 5:28 of the semifinal. Wyatt lost the title match to Pulaski’s Logan Bellow and, with a top-four finish assured, took an injury default defeat in a wrestleback against Harrison Prange of Bay Port, which won the team competition.
Darling stuck Noah Huckins of Green Bay Preble/Green Bay East in 1:13 of his first match and then dropped his next two but still finished comfortably in the top four to earn another trip to Green Bay.
Oreskovic battled his way to the sectional, knocking off De Pere’s Trevor Van Oss 10-1, losing his next two matches and then winning the pivotal fourth-place match 5-3 over Green Bay Preble/Green Bay East to move on.
Laatsch also went the same route, winning his opening match 6-4 over De Pere’s Neal Colling, dropping the next two and fighting back to win the fourth-place match by fall at 2:51 over Benji Ramirez of Green Bay Preble/Green Bay East.
Braatz closed it out following the same pattern. He beat Caleb Jeffreys of Green Bay West/Southwest 6-1 in the first round, lost the semifinal and the first wrestleback and came through when it mattered, pinning Jacob Salamonski of Ashwaubenon in 37 seconds.
DIVISION 1
WIAA Green Bay/Preble Regional
TEAM RESULTS: 1. Bay Port 256.5, 2. Pulaski 253, 3. Green Bay Preble/Green Bay East 128.5, 4. Ashwaubenon 119, 5. De Pere 104, 6. Green Bay West/Southwest 79.5, 7. Shawano 76.5, 8. West De Pere 74.5.
SHAWANO RESULTS:
106 - Wyatt Welch d. Jacob Zellner GBP/GBE 5-2; (semifinal) Welch d. Drew Willems WDP fall 5:28; (final) Logan Bellow PUL d. Welch 8-0; (wrestleback) Harrison Prange BP d. Welch, inj. def. Welch advances to Green Bay West Sectional.
113 - Danny Darling d. Noah Huckins GBP/GBE, fall 1:15; Jarod Maes BP d. Darling, fall 1:57; (wrestleback) Waylon Clark PUL d. Darling 12-1; Darling advances to Green Bay West Sectional.
126 - Austin Oreskovic d. Trevor Van Oss DEP 10-1; (semifinal) Bradley Prentice PUL d. Oreskovic, fall 0:43; (wrestleback) Henry Prange BP d. Oreskovic, fall 2:23; (fourth place) Oreskovic d. Matt Swanson GBP/GBE 5-3, Oreskovic advances to Green Bay West Sectional.
145 - Jarrett Laatsch d. Neal Colling DEP 6-4; Matt May PUL d. Laatsch, fall 1:01; (wrestleback) Andres Perez ASH d. Laatsch, fall 3:10; (fourth place) Laatsch d. Benji Ramirez GBP/GBE, fall 2:51.
285 - Damon Braatz d. Caleb Jeffreys GBW/SW 6-1; (semifinal) Hunter Micolichek PUL d. Braatz, fall 1:04; (wrestleback) Evan Heim DEP d. Braatz, fall 0:35; (fourth place) Braatz d. Jacob Salamonski ASH, fall 0:37; Braatz advances to Green Bay West Sectional.
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