By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Although they had more individual champions than any other Southern Lakes Conference squad, the Waterford High School wrestling squad simply did not have the depth to contend for an SLC tournament title Saturday at Burlington. The Wolverines finished fourth out of eight teams with 141.5 points, even though four Wolverine grapplers captured titles.
Lake Geneva Badger won the tournament title with 235.5 points, followed by Elkhorn with 222 points and Burlington with 209 points. Those three teams, based on regular season duals and their tournament finishes, shared the SLC title.
Wolverine wrestlers who won their respective weight classes were Justin Ratkovec, at 106 pounds, Kody Azarian at 126, Max Fisher at 138 and Cody Nannemann at 160.
Dylan Malecki took third at 170, but no other Waterford wrestler finished better than fifth. Only 12 Wolverines competed.
Ratkovec opened with a 16-0 technical fall victory and followed that up with a 5-0 decision in the semifinal.
In the finals, he defeated Badger’s Michael Peter 7-6. That win avenged a 2-1 loss earlier this season to Peter, who is ranked No. 11 in the state.
Azarian dominated all three of his opponents, winning the first two matches with first-period pins, and the final by a 12-0 major decision over Cody Chelminiak of Delavan-Darien. Azarian is ranked No. 4 in the state at 120 pounds, but wrestled in this tournament at 126.
Fisher opened with a first-period pin, and followed that up with a 9-0 major decision. He won the title by injury default over Burlington’s Brody Fitzpatrick. Fisher is ranked No. 3 in the state.
Nannemann, ranked No. 5, had a first-round bye, and then scored an 8-3 decision in the semifinal round.
In the finals, he defeated Elkhorn’s Devin Kinney 5-0.
Malecki lost his opening match, but rebounded by taking the next three matches. In the third-place match, he avenged his opening round loss to Kyle Crayton of Burlington by defeating Crayton 7-4.
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