Slinger wrestlers roll to North Shore title
Owls overcame plenty of obstacles
CEDARBURG – Slinger wrestling coach Chris Graziano’s telephone rang this morning and the news wasn’t good.
The flu was getting the best of one of his starters. His day was done before it started.
That has been par for the course for Slinger’s wrestling team, though. The Owls have been hit with injuries and illness. Families issues have justifiably take precedence.
“We’ve had a weird year . ... It’s like every week there is somebody else missing,” Graziano said.
When it came to the North Shore Conference, the bottom line wasn’t affected. The Owls went undefeated in their conference duals, and Saturday ran away with the title at the conference meet at Cedarburg despite the absence of three starters because of this or that.
Led by first-place finishes from senior Caleb Ziebell at 138 pounds, junior Bennett Connolly at 220 and junior Charlie Covert at 285, Slinger finished with 228 points, 71 better than second-place Port Washington.
Perhaps the real heroes of the day were replacements like Jake Melzer (120), Jake Bernarde (145) and Tim Gehring (170), who filled in and took third in their weight classes. Jacob Klinger, who normally competes at 170, finished fifth at 160.
“We’ve got a strong team mentality on our team, which I’m really proud of. The kids all pull for each other,” Graziano said.
“The kids really aren’t selfish so if I say today, 'I need you here' and 'I’m sorry but today you’re out of the lineup' (it’s no problem). When we line our guys up for dual meets, we literally have 21 kids lined up.”
It also helps to have a few hammers and for Slinger, Ziebell, Connolly and Covert fit the bill.
Ziebell continued his season-long dominance with victories by pin in the quarterfinals and semifinals before defeating Cedarburg’s Sam Boerner by major decision, 16-2, in the final.
Boerner was a conference champion at 132 last year.The wiwrestling.com rankings for the 138-pound class listed Boerner fourth in the class, two spots behind Ziebell..
“Every match I go out the same way. I warm up the same way. I just get into the same mindset every match that there is no one who can beat me and I go out there and wrestle my hardest,” Ziebell said. “The week throughout practice I keep hat same mindset that I won’t stop until I’m winning.”
Connolly came back to pin Cedarburg’s Andrew Temmer in his final Covert, a first-year varsity performer, won, 7-2, over Hartford’s Mike Funk.
“They’re kind of the exclamation points on our team,” Ziebell said.. “They’re always last, but they’re always exciting.”
The victory sets Slinger up for it hopes will be another long run in the postseason. The Owls qualified for state last year.
The first step to getting back comes Saturday at the regional, a meet the Owls must win in order to qualify for the team sectional.
“This group of guys has been with each other since together elementary school," Ziebell said. "Our goals, every week we set them and we all work hard together toward achieving them and the results speak for themselves.”