Greg Bates, Leader Correspondent
Wyatt Welch is headed back to sectionals.
One year after losing in the opening round, the Shawano Community High School wrestler has bigger goals. One thing he strove for was to win a regional championship. Mission accomplished.
The senior won the 113-pound title at a WIAA Division 2 regional in Seymour on Saturday.
He was the only Shawano wrestler to advance to sectionals Saturday in Oconto Falls.
“We were hoping to get two through,” Shawano coach Mike Homan said. “We knew it was going to be tough. This is a very good regional. … When there’s really good wrestlers, you’ve got to wrestle your best to move on.”
Winning the regional championship is a big deal for Welch.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I can’t even explain it because I’ve never won a big deal tournament like this before in my high school career.”
Welch entered the tournament with the second best record in his bracket behind Peshtigo’s Zack Wauters. After Welch tallied a 10-0 major decision in the opening round, he faced Wauters in the semifinals. Welch trailed by two points in the third period, but got near fall and then rode Wauters for the last 1:40 to pull out the 5-4 win.
Freedom’s Koy Murphy took Welch to overtime in the championship match before Welch came away with a 4-2 victory. Welch had a close takedown that was called a stalemate when he had the victory in his grasp. He didn’t get rattled, however.
“It’s easy to get down on yourself after something like that, but he battled right back,” Homan said. “He went back to the center and took him down with about 3 seconds left on the clock. Just handling the adversity to get through that and to come on at the end of the match is as good as what you can ask for.”
Welch (22-11) feels confident he can do well at sectionals despite the strong competition in Oconto Falls.
“It gives me a lot of inspiration and it pushes me to do even better because I came into this tournament thinking I wasn’t going to do good,” Welch said. “And here I won it.”
Shawano had a shot to get Crede Timm (160) into the sectional, but the freshman lost in wrestlebacks in the true second-place match, getting pinned by Oconto Falls’ Brice Delzer in 1:32.
Timm (7-21) won his opening-round match by pin in 1:59 before losing in the semifinals, a fall at 39 seconds, to eventual champion Seth Vosters from Freedom. Timm won his first wrestleback on a pin with 1 second remaining in the match before losing in the second-place match.
Austin Oreskovic (11-12) and Damon Braatz (22-10) both placed third at 132 and 285 pounds, respectively, and didn’t have a shot in wrestlebacks to take second.
Oreskovic didn’t let a broken pinky finger slow him down after nearly a month away from the mat.
Also for Shawano, Sam Tourtilott (170) placed fourth, Devon Strege (138) placed fifth, and Jarrett Laatsch (152) placed fifth.
Shawano took fifth as a team with 77 points. Oconto Falls took first (272) and Freedom was runner-up (263).
Homan was happy to see Timm, Oreskovic and Tourtilott – who are all back next season — finish in the top four and get an idea of what they need to do to advance to sectionals.
“I think it’s big just for those kids to see how close they are and hopefully that kind of puts their goals for next year at, ‘Hey, I want to be a regional champion. I want to be in that finals match, so I can be moving on to the next round,’” Homan said. “It kind of puts that carrot out there for them so we can have something to work for in the offseason.”
WIAA Division 2 Sectional
Seymour High School
Team scores: Oconto Falls, 272; Freedom, 263; Seymour, 166; Peshtigo, 122; Shawano, 77; Marinette, 51; Clintonville/Marion, 32.