Warriors hold own in rugged Zelinski mat field

Muskego - Co-coach Sean Fortmann of Muskego came away from Saturday's Zelinski Memorial Duals wrestling tournament at Whitnall High School with mixed feelings.

Fortmann appreciated the quality of the field, which included such traditional powers as Merrill, Hartford and West Allis Central, but wished the Warriors had been a bit sharper, especially in their opening dual against Stoughton, a 51-27 defeat.

That loss dropped Muskego into a lower bracket, so even though the Warriors won the rest of their duals and took first in Group C with a 4-1 mark, they wound up only ninth overall.

"It was our first year at this tournament, and it was a great tournament," Fortmann said. "I was disappointed in our effort and desire against Stoughton. (After that), we wrestled some less-experienced teams the rest of the way. We seemed to bounce back well and wrestled better the rest of the day."

Unbeatens help carry team

Muskego went on to defeat Marquette, 65-9; Beaver Dam, 45-27; Germantown, 54-23; and Kenosha Bradford, 48-32. Coincidentally, the Warriors had met Bradford in a Southeast Conference dual on Jan. 19 and prevailed by a similar score, 45-30.

They had five wrestlers finish unbeaten at 5-0 on the day: Austin Quartullo (113 pounds), Justin Scherkenbach (126, 132), Connor Price (132, 138), Roland Dunlap (195) and Jordan Gruettner (220), who remained undefeated on the season at 29-0.

Posting 4-1 marks were Jeff Whitehouse (106) and Jamie Edelbeck (heavyweight).

"Our normal leaders did well," Fortmann said, "but in addition, Connor Price is starting to wrestle well and Jeff Whitehouse and Jamie Edelbeck had good days also."

The Warriors also had four wrestlers on the tournament list of the most pins in the least amount of time. Gruettner recorded four pins in a total of 3 minutes, 9 seconds, while Scherkenbach had four pins in 6:12, Price four pins in 10:26 and Dunlap four pins in 12:56.

Depth needed ahead

Looking ahead, Fortmann realizes that the Warriors need to become a bit deeper for the tournament season.

"I think the one thing that was pretty obvious is that you can't win tournaments like conference with only six or seven guys," he said. "We need 14 wrestlers to help us reach our goal of winning conference. If we can get everyone doing their part and get those contributions, we can reach our goals as a team."

Muskego's winners in the Jan. 19 dual against Bradford were Gruettner (pin in 42 seconds), Edelbeck (forfeit), Whitehouse (pin in 2:37), Quartullo (forfeit), Cameron Rygiewicz (12-10), Scherkenbach (pin in 1:05), Price (pin in 1:27) and Dunlap (pin in 46 seconds).

The Warriors improved to 5-1 in SEC duals and will close out the dual season at Oak Creek at 7 p.m. Jan. 26.