Waterloo senior wrestler Trevor Firari is a conference champion once again. He missed much of last season due to injury, including the Capitol Conference meet, robbing him of the chance to defend the title he claimed at 170 lbs. as a sophomore.
The 2024 edition of the conference meet, hosted at Lake Mills High School on Saturday, Feb. 3, offered one last shot at redemption. Firari made the most of his opportunity, now wrestling in the 190 lbs. weight class. It only took three wins to earn him the title of champion once again.
Starting off in the quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed, Firari pinned Marshall freshman Dylan Peterson in 50 seconds to advance to the semis. There, he again flexed his abilities in a 13-3 major decision win. This put him on a collision course with top-seeded Owen Burling of Lodi. The championship match lived up to its billing as it went the distance. Firari scored an escape in the second period and a takedown in the third to emerge victorious in a 3-2 decision slugfest.
While Firari’s individual performance was the pinnacle, the Waterloo wrestling team overall enjoyed a successful day. One more Pirate finished runner-up in his weight class and four more finished third as Waterloo produced a team score of 148 for third place. Lodi took home the Capitol Conference team crown with a score of 285, followed by Sugar River in second with 237.
Senior Ryan Sturgill was Waterloo’s next-highest finisher with a second place finish. He entered the day as the top seed in the 157 lbs. weight class and backed up that billing with a 12-2 major decision win in the semifinals. He faced off with Sugar River’s Cayson Helwig in the championship, another match that went the distance. Sturgill put up a valiant effort but ultimately fell in a 6-4 decision. This is his third consecutive second place finish at conference, accomplishing the feat at 138 lbs. as a sophomore and 145 lbs. as a junior.
Waterloo’s laundry list of third place finishers begins in the lightest weight class, 106 lbs., with freshman Zack Aguero. A bye earned him a spot in the semifinals, where he fell to eventual runner-up Curtis Peterson of Cambridge. Down in the consolation bracket, Aguero was up against a Lake Mills wrestler with third place on the line. Aguero scored four points in the second period alone and held off a late comeback to take home a 9-7 decision win.
Senior Modou Demba also earned the Pirates a third place finish in the heaviest weight class, 285 lbs.. He pinned his quarterfinal opponent from Lake Mills in 1:33, but fell to eventual runner up Isaac Erb of Sugar River in the semifinals. Demba bounced back by pinning a Marshall wrestler in 50 seconds in the consolation bracket to earn a spot in the third place match. There, he again won by pin in 2:41 against a Lakeside Lutheran wrestler.
Sophomore Brady Ebert followed the exact same path to third place in the 126 lbs. bracket. He pinned his quarterfinal opponent in 1:29 and subsequently lost in a 7-4 decision in the semis. Undeterred, he dominated an 18-2 tech fall win over a Lakeside Lutheran wrestler to punch a ticket to the third place match. There, Ebert scored all of his points in the third period of a come-from-behind 5-3 decision win.
Freshman Gavin Schroud also handled himself well in his first conference meet appearance with a third place finish in the 144 lbs. bracket. He won his quarterfinal match against a Lakeside Lutheran wrestler with a pin at 1:38, but ran into the top seed from Lodi in the semifinals and was pinned in the first round. Schroud bounced back with a 16-1 tech fall win in the consolation bracket to face Kody Finke of Marshall in the third place match. Schroud put up six points in the second period to help take home a 10-3 decision win for third place.
Waterloo also had a handful of fourth place finishers, including sophomore Avery Skalitzky (120 lbs.), freshman Wyatt Toay (132 lbs.), and junior Derek Pochowski (175 lbs.).
Skalitzky was a runner-up finisher at 106 lbs. a season before, but still performed well at a higher weight class this time around. He opened with a pin win at the two minute mark of his quarterfinal match, but fell to eventual runner-up Zander Kellogg of Lodi in the semifinals. Dropped to the consolation bracket, Skalitzky pinned a Marshall wrestler in 2:14 to advance to the third place match. He battled against a Lake Mills wrestler, but ultimately succumbed to a pin loss at 3:57 for fourth place.
Toay benefitted from a quarterfinal bye before being knocked out of the championship bracket by the eventual runner-up from Sugar River. He had a battle waiting for him against a Lakeside Lutheran wrestler in the consolation bracket. Toay raced out to a 3-0 lead through two periods and held on through a comeback attempt to win 3-2 and advance to the third place match. In another one that went the distance, Toay fell in a 7-2 decision to a Lake Mills wrestler.
175 lbs. is notoriously one of the toughest at the high school level, but Pochowski acquitted himself quite well. He faced instant drama as his opening quarterfinal match against a Lakeside Lutheran finished the third period with a 6-6 tie. Now in overtime, Pochowski was aggressive and scored a takedown just four seconds in for the 8-6 sudden victory. Up next was defending conference champion Mason Lane of Lodi, who pinned Pochowski in 24 seconds on his way to a repeat title. Down in the third place match, Pochowski was again pinned by a Columbus wrestler in 4:10 for fourth place.
Elsewhere at the conference meet, sophomore Andy Carrillo earned fifth at 215 lbs. and senior Dakota Sturgill placed sixth in the 165 lbs. bracket.
Up next, the Pirates will benefit from home mat advantage for the start of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) state tournament. Waterloo High School will serve as a host site for both WIAA regionals and sectionals this season. Regionals kick off on Saturday, Feb. 10. Qualified teams and wrestlers will return to Waterloo High School on Tuesday, Feb. 13 for sectionals.
The 2024 WIAA individual state wrestling tournament will be hosted at the UW-Madison Kohl Center from Thursday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 24. Team state will take place the following weekend, Friday, Mar. 1 and Saturday, Mar. 2 at the UW-Madison Field House.
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2024 Capitol Conference meet team scores
1. Lodi, 285
2. Sugar River, 237
3. Waterloo, 148
4. Lake Mills, 130
5. Cambridge, 100
6. Lakeside Lutheran 86
7. Marshall, 67
8. Poynette, 52.5
9. Columbus, 34
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