2000-01 Season Madison Area Wrestling Outlook

Area Wrestling Outlook
Wisconsin State Journal
Tuesday, December 12, 2000 Brian Grover
Note: Conference standings are final 1999-2000 season standings.
* 1999-2000 conference meet results: Sun Prairie 187 1/2 , Janesville Parker 151 1/2 , Janesville Craig 139, Middleton 133 1/2 , Beloit Memorial 131, Madison East 108 1/2 , Madison Memorial 96, Madison West 73, Madison La Follette 58 1/2 .
* Wrestlers to watch:
Beloit Memorial -- Aaron LaGrange, sr., 130 pounds (7-15 last year).
Janesville Craig -- Mike Vazquez, jr., 125 (21-11); Brennan Williams, sr., 145 (20-14) Jim Bellomo, sr., 152 (24-9, 36-16 overall).
Janesville Parker -- Dan Jackson, so., 103; Blake Collins, sr., 130; Mark Hartwig, sr., 140.
Madison East -- Dan Evans, jr., 135; Josh Hameister, sr., 189.
Madison La Follette -- Ryan Maurer, sr., 145 (26-5); Jerrod Copus, sr., 152 (22-12); Joe Busalacchi, sr., 189 (24-10).
Madison Memorial -- Greg Stilson, sr., 119 (21-13), Tony Ayala, so., 125 (19-14).
Madison West -- David Jackson, sr., 145 (22-7); John Koskinen, sr., 152 (16-14).
Middleton -- Everett Cherrix, jr., 140 (28-6).
Sun Prairie -- Sam Millis, sr., heavyweight (24-10).
* Outlook: With only two of last year's 13 conference champions returning -- Janesville Craig's Mike Vazquez (119 pounds) and Middleton's Everett Cherrix (125) -- the Big Eight appears to be up for grabs. Defending champion Sun Prairie suffered heavy losses to graduation, and early signs point to crosstown rivals Janesville Craig and Parker as the teams to beat.
The Cougars are deep and experienced, returning 10 letterwinners from a team that went 6-2 in conference competition a year ago. One-time Big Eight bully Parker has been fallible in recent years, but the Vikings return eight place-winners from last year's conference tournament, and will look to improve upon their second-place finish.