Bruce Ehrhart and Horlick wrestling: February 2006

Prep wrestling: D'Alie sets the pace
By Journal Times staff

Anthony D'Alie has been a dominant force all four times he's wrestled in the Ed Stech Invitational at West Allis Central High School.

Saturday, the Waterford senior got the top honor he could at the event.

D'Alie ran the table in the 140-pound weight class, capping the day with his third weight-class title at the prestigious tournament that features several of the top teams in the state.

Behind D'Alie and five other placewinners, the Wolverines finished seventh for the second straight year, scoring 106.5 points. Case, led by third-place finisher Jon Otto, tied South Milwaukee for 16th place with 39 points.

Mukwonago, ranked third in Division 1 in the Crossface Magazine rankings, won the tournament with 178 points, 1.5 points ahead of runner-up Oak Park-River Forest (Ill.) and 7.5 ahead of third-place Hartford, ranked fifth in Division 1.

D'Alie, who won titles at 103 as a freshman and at 119 as a sophomore, was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

"That's an awesome accomplishment," Waterford coach Henry Agallar said. "There's a couple ranked kids at each weight and a handful of them are going to place high at state. He's focused and was dominant."

The championship match was anticlimactic as D'Alie dom-inated WIAA Division 1 state qualifier Andy Simmons of South Milwaukee in a 15-0 technical fall at just 2:48 of the match.

"He just walked through the tournament," Agallar said of D'Alie, who improved to 10-0 this season and is one of just a few wrestlers to win three Ed Stech titles. "There are tough people here, but he was a man among boys."

The next best finisher for the Wolverines was Eric Czaja, who finished second at 160 pounds. The sophomore, who is 9-2, lost to Tom Fendyk of Mukwonago 9-2 in the title match.

"Eric really stepped up," Agallar said. "He's starting to open up. When he opens up, it's pretty hard to stop him."

Freshman Trevor Weinkauf was fourth at 152 pounds. Senior Brandon Henderson (9-3) was fifth at 215 as were junior Chris Collins (11-2) at 171 pounds and freshman Tim Czaja (8-2) at 125.

Jon Otto was the only wrestler to place for the Eagles. Otto, a senior, won the third-place match at 275 pounds when Ryan Peterson of Janesville Craig, who sustained a concussion in his semifinal match, defaulted the match.

Case coach Mark Petersen said that the top four wrestlers in Otto's weight class were all state qualifiers last year.

HORLICK: There were just five Rebels wrestling in varsity matches at the Westosha Central Holiday Challenge, but none of the five finished worse than fourth as Horlick placed eighth of 11 teams with 91 points.

Junior Lane Olson, the No. 1 seed at 152 pounds, led the Rebels' brigade. He won his first two matches by pin, then beat No. 2 seed Lenard Hale of Milwaukee Pulaski in 3:59 on a technical fall (18-2) in the championship match. Olson improved to 17-0 with his perfect day.

The toughest match of the day for Olson, Horlick coach Jerry Kupper said, was in the semifinals, where Olson faced Southeast Conference foe Troy Landry of Kenosha Bradford.

Landry got the first takedown of the match, but Olson came back in the second period and got the pin in 2:52.

"He took him down and put him down," Kupper said.

Sophomore Steve Sanchez was involved in the closest final of the tournament. At 135 pounds, Sanchez was the No. 3 seed, but pinned his first opponent and then beat No. 2 seed Chris Allman of Milwaukee Bradley Tech on an 18-3 technical fall in the semifinals.

In the final, Sanchez (12-5) took No. 1 seed Nick Tadeo of Franklin, who finished sixth at 125 pounds in Division 1 last year at the WIAA State Tournament, to two overtimes before losing 9-6.

Junior Xavier Marquez, at 189, was seeded No. 1, but the tables were turned on him in the final. Marquez (14-3) won his first two matches on pins of 45 seconds and 5:20, but got caught by No. 2 seed Jamie Jacobo of Warren, Ill., and was pinned in 1:17 in the title match.

Junior Marsha Boucher (4-2), wrestling in her first tournament of the season, was unseeded at 103 pounds, but went 2-1 and finished third, getting both of her victories by pins. She beat Wantee Waort of Pulaski in 57 seconds in her first match and beat Martin Grasswick of Wilmot in 2:37 in the third-place match.

Senior Anthony Aviles (10-7) was fourth at 275 for Horlick, going 1-2. He won his first match on a 51-second pin, but lost to eventual champion Maxx Daniels of Westosha 3-0 in the semifinals.

Warren won the team title with 208 points.

PARK: Frank Swift and Ryan Brown held their own against tough competition, going 3-1 to finish second in their respective weight classes to help the Panthers finish fifth at the eight-team Hatchet Invitational at Tomahawk.

Park scored 90 points. Marshfield edged runner-up Chetek-Prairie Farm 140-138.

Swift, at 160 pounds, was wrestling in one of the toughest weight classes of the tournament, Park coach Andy Fenderson said. He pinned his first three opponents, then lost a tough 8-4 decision to Jordan Wendlandt of Chetek-Prairie Farm and finished second.

"Frank wrestled tough all day," Fenderson said. "He got the first takedown, but he gave up five points on a mistake. It's hard to get five points back."

Matt Burdick, at 152, went 2-2 and was also second in his weight class.

Sam Azarian ('72) and Steve Lucareli ('73) stopped at the Nitty Gritty to eat a bite with coach Ehrhart.

Golden boys: Olson, Schmalfeldt win state titles

MADISON — This one was for Alex ... and for Lane.
Horlick senior Lane Olson became the first Racine wrestler in 14 years to win a WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championship Saturday at the Kohl Center. He was joined by Burlington’s Justin Schmalfeldt, whose domination of the Division 1 215-pound weight class ended with a 7-2 victory over Wisconsin Rapids’ Steve Virgil.
St. Catherine’s Jon Flancher earned a Division 2 third-place medal at 215 pounds and Waterford’s Eric Czaja was fourth at 152 pounds in Division 1. Lars Skoglund of Racine, who wrestles for Milwaukee Heritage Christian, finished fourth at 171 in Division 3.

Olson decisioned Rhinelander’s Eddie Stefonek 5-1 in the final, fulfilling a promise to his late friend Alex Olson, a Horlick student-athlete who died of leukemia last March.

“(Alex) was there the whole time,” Lane Olson said. “I wanted to do this for him so bad, but I didn’t make it public. I wanted to keep this between me and him this year.
“I wish I could have done this last year when Alex was here, but I know he’s here with me in spirit, which means a lot.”

Olson (37-2) took control of the match in the second period, scoring an escape midway through the period and adding a takedown in the final 20 seconds. Stefonek (44-2) escaped early in the third period but was unable to score again. After receiving a stalling warning with 22 seconds left, Olson went on the attack again and closed out the match by finishing off another takedown at the buzzer.

“This is everything I thought it would be and more,” Olson said. “I can’t explain it. I controlled the match and did everything I needed to do. I didn’t give up a takedown the whole tournament and I wasn’t about to give one up in the last match.”
Olson, who had made his vow to his dying friend public last season, kept his tribute private this season. Horlick coach Jerry Kupper placed photos of the two Olsons on the mat during matches, but didn’t tell his senior wrestler about it until regionals. A photo of each Olson was in the Horlick corner during the final.

“Last year, when he came up here, he had a lot of distractions,” Kupper said. “He had the right priorities, but the distractions took him away from his wrestling skills. He lost his best friend and that was his No. 1 distraction, but it was a distraction for the right reasons. He had his mind on his friend instead of wrestling. This year he was distraction free. He’s a hard-working kid with a big heart who is doing it for all the right reasons.”

Olson is the first Horlick wrestler to win a state championship since Rebels assistant coach Leonard Velasquez won the second of two state titles in 1982.
“His mom and dad went to school with my brothers and sisters,” Velasquez said. “When he was a freshman they said to him ‘he’s a good guy, maybe he’ll do something with you, make you a champion.’ But with him and his work ethic, he made it happen. I told him ‘this is your time to shine, go for it.’

It was Schmalfeldt’s time to shine as well.
The Burlington senior was one of three Division 1 wrestlers to finish the season unbeaten (38-0).
“This was a lot of fun,” Schmalfeldt said. “The biggest thing I tried to remember is this is just another tournament. I couldn’t let the hype get to me.”
Schmalfeldt trailed 1-0 midway through his final match before opening up with a pair of takedowns in the final 32 seconds of the second period for a 4-2 lead. Virgil (40-7), who failed in his attempt to give Wisconsin Rapids a 4-for-4 sweep in the finals, let Schmaldfeldt escape to start the third and was taken down 30 seconds later.

Like Olson, Schmalfeldt didn’t allow a takedown in four state tournament matches.
“I concentrated the whole year on shooting,” Schmalfeldt said. “That’s my positive, scoring on my feet. I love taking someone down.”
Schmalfeldt exhibited a quiet confidence throughout the tournament, a lesson he said he learned after finishing sixth as a junior.

“Last year I came in and I was in awe,” Schmalfeldt said. “The first year, you’re like ‘wow, I finally made it.’ You get a little panicked. That’s the one thing I tried not to do this year and it paid off.”
Schmaldfeldt is the third Burlington wrestler to win a state title, joining two-time winner Tom Fitzpatrick (1983 and ‘85) and the late Mike Kramer (1994).

“He has really come a long way,” Demons coach Jace Gribble said. “He started really getting focused after placing sixth last year. He set this goal after last season and dedicated himself to it and to be honest, he hasn’t really been touched this year. I was lucky enough to work with him for the last two years and he’s made huge strides, but that’s all his doing. He did all the work, he’s very coachable. He did whatever I asked him and he’s a perfect example — you do the work, you pay the price and it works out.”

Flancher had to work overtime to earn his third-place Division 2 medal. The St. Catherine’s senior needed a takedown in the extra period for a 5-3 victory over Westby’s Tyler Manning (40-8).

“This might be the last match ever in his career,” St. Catherine’s coach Mark Sommer said. “I thought he wrestled the best match of his career.”
Flancher (42-4) scored a second-period takedown for a 2-1 lead but Manning escaped for a 2-2 tie after two periods. Flancher regained the lead with a third-period escape but Manning forced overtime when Flancher was penalized a point for stalling.

“I wanted to win a state championship, but third place isn’t too bad after coming up here and losing last year,” Flancher said. “It wasn’t easy trying to regroup after losing in the semis, but I didn’t want my last match to be a loss.”

Czaja was unable to rebound in his Division 1 third-place consolation match following Friday night’s semifinal loss to Olson. The Waterford junior’s late rally came up short in a 3-2 loss to James Dederich of Menomonee Falls (36-6). Czaja (38-2) battled back from a 3-0 deficit with escapes in the final two periods but Dederich held off Czaja’s attempt for a winning takedown.

NOTES: Fox Sports Net North will broadcast the finals for all three divisions. Division 1 will air 7 p.m. Tuesday; Division 2 will air 1 p.m. Sunday, March 18 followed by Division 3 at 3:30 p.m.

Schmalfeldt was awarded his state championship medal by former Burlington coach and state Hall of Famer Don Moe, who coached Schmalfeldt during his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Gary Sommers ('72) State Champion and Coach Ehrhart.

(l-r) Steve Lucareli ('73), Sam Azarian ('72), Julio Torres ('69), Juan Ayala ('71), Carlso Mireles ('70), Anthony D'Alie ('73), former Racine Horlick Wrestling Coach Bruce Ehrhart (1967-77), Oscar Mireles ('73)

Steve Lucareli ('73) shares a story about his son's hockey exploit as Coach Ehrhart and Anthony D'Alie listen.

Carlos Mireles ('70), Juan Ayala ('71) and Julio Torres ('69) share a laugh at the Nitty Gritty Bar.

Carlos Mireles ('70), Julio Torres ('69) who placed 4th in the WIAA State Tournament
in 1969 at 133 lbs., when there was only one division. Coach Bruce Ehrhart