Wrestling highlights: Azarian, D'Alie leading way for Waterford wrestling team

By Journal Times staff

Waterford High School seniors Anthony Azarian and Anthony D'Alie are becoming quite the 1-2 punch for the Wolverines.

Azarian went 3-0, won the 145-pound weight class and was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler and D'Alie went 3-0 and won the 140-pound weight class to lead Waterford to a second-place finish in the nine-team Beloit Memorial Invitational Saturday at Beloit.

Dakota, Ill., won the team championship with a score of 239. Waterford scored 149.5 points and Hononegah, Ill., was third with 144 points.

Azarian transferred from Park to Waterford this year, joining his long-time wrestling friend D'Alie.

"You can tell the two working together is paying off,'' Waterford coach Henry Agallar said of Azarian and D'Alie, both of whom are off to 5-0 starts this season.

Azarian, who was the WIAA Division 1 Individual State Tournament runner-up at 135 pounds last year, pinned Joe Clothier of Clinton in one minute and 59 seconds in the 145-pound championship match at the Memorial Invitational. Clothier won the WIAA Division 2 135-pound state title last year.

D'Alie, who had 35 wins last year and qualified for the WIAA Division 1 state tournament, pinned another state qualifier, Alex Charo of Delavan-Darien, in 3:27 in the championship match at 140. Charo earlier had beaten an Illinois state meet qualifier in advancing to the championship match.

"Those two brackets (140 and 145) were pretty impressive,'' Agallar said. "Those guys wrestled really well in the finals."

Junior Richard Strike went 2-1 and took second at 112 pounds. Strike lost 18-1 (technical fall) to David Matalas of Kenosha Bradford in the championship match.

Senior Brandon Henderson went 3-1 and placed third at 215 pounds. Henderson beat Tim Lauer of Whitewater 6-3 in the third-place match. Henderson was leading his semifinal match with less than a minute left, when he was taken down and lost by a point.

Tim Czaja (125), Eric Czaja (160) and Chris Collins (171) all placed third for Waterford. Collins pinned Justin Bronson of Delavan-Darien in 1:23 in the third-place match.

COUGAR INVITATIONAL: Park High School senior Ryan Brown went 2-1 and placed second at 275 pounds for the Panthers' top finish at the 11-team Cougar Invitational at Campbellsport.

The Panthers scored 93.5 points and placed fifth. Host Campbellsport scored 204.5 points and won the tournament. St. Catherine's scored 33 points and was 10th.

Brown (6-1) lost 6-5 to Jared Hoitinik of Oostburg in the championship match.

Senior Frank Swift and junior Dan Swift were third at their respective weight classes for Park. Frank Swift (5-2) went 2-1 and pinned Jake Patnode of Greenfield in 4:46 in the third-place match. Dan Swift (4-3) went 2-1 and pinned Joe Doherty of Grafton in 2:51 in the third-place match.

Park coach Andy Fenderson also got a big lift from senior Matt Burdick, who normally wrestles at 152 pounds, but moved up two weight classes to 171 and placed fifth.

"Most of the kids wrestled pretty well, so I was happy,'' Andy Fenderson said. "They did a good job."

For St. Catherine's, Jon Flancher was runner-up at 215 pounds to lead the Angels. Flancher (2-2), who placed fifth in this meet last year, won his first two matches before getting pinned by Nate Lupo of Milwaukee Vincent in 3:06.

"He's only a junior,'' St. Catherine's coach Mark Sommers said. "We're trying to teach and preach the guys progress. The goal we're setting up for him is top three in all tournaments, so he did very well.'' Also leading the Angels was Dan Christensen, who went 2-1 at 140 pounds and placed fifth. Christensen (2-2) decisioned Grafton's Rob Rathmanner 11-4 in the fifth-place match.

HORLICK: Lane Olson remained perfect with five victories, including three over returning state meet qualifiers from last season at the Neenah Dual Invitational.

The Rebels finished the invitational with an 0-5 record, but Olson, at 152, Steve Sanchez, at 135, and Xavier Marquez, at 189, all had good days.

Olson defeated state qualifiers from Pulaski, Marshfield, and Coleman, before beating his final two opponents, 8-1 and by a pin.

"He's wrestling smart," Horlick coach Jerry Kupper said. "If he stays healthy, he has a good chance at having a good season here."

Sanchez and Marquez both finished with 4-1 records.

"They both went 4-1 and beat some good kids," Kupper said. "They've shown good improvement and had some pretty good days against some good competition."

While the Rebels were 0-5, Kupper was still pleased with his team.

"The experienced kids did what they had to do," Kupper said. "The new guys took their lumps and learned something.

"We're pleased even though the match record isn't the best."

CATHOLIC CENTRAL: Dustin Elsbury pinned two opponents and finished with a perfect record at the New Berlin West Invitational.

Elsbury was the only wrestler with a winning record for the Hilltoppers, which finished fifth in the silver division of the tournament. He pinned two opponents and easily won three other decisions, improving his season record to 9-0.

Tim Shellberg, at 125, James Kunka, at 130, and Marcus Shellberg, at 160, all had 2-3 records.