Bay wrestlers are underdogs no more, advance four to state

Whitefish Bay - Six years ago, when Dale Loebel took over the Whitefish Bay wrestling program, the team scored one point in a match in WIAA sectional competition.

Not one team point, mind you, one point in a match. There were no match wins in sectional back then for Bay, much less state qualifiers.

Now fast forward to Saturday's sectional at Arrowhead, where points were commonplace and match wins were plentiful and in a cascading torrent of grit, tenacity and burgeoning skill, the Blue Dukes advanced a school record four qualifiers to this weekend's WIAA State Individual Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.

"I think we're a program on the rise," said junior 106-pounder Max Carlin, who fought through the consolation bracket to win a wrestleback and earn one of the state berths, "but I don't think people are still taking us very seriously."

Loebel, whose team has been qualifying people for state the last few years, thinks maybe "the on the rise" thing has been overplayed a little now and that the Blue Dukes are an established program.

He even got an unexpected nod of respect.

"We've come a long, long ways," he said. "I'll be happy when we can stop talking about things like that. It was a great day, and a bunch of coaches came up to me (and congratulated me). The Yde's dad (a powerful wrestling family from sectional champion Arrowhead) is our business manager (in the Bay district) and even he said to me 'You guys are really good.' "

Larger transport needed

Maybe the Blue Dukes have arrived.

Because Loebel will have to take a somewhat larger vehicle to Madison on Thursday as state newcomers Carlin (37-9), Joey Davey at 113 (25-8) and Nick Levings at 182 (26-10), join two-time state qualifier Rashadeem Gray at 160 (36-11) when the state's first-round and quarterfinals are held at 3 p.m. at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Gray is the first two-time Bay qualifier since Robert Smith two decades ago and this is the first time Bay has had even more than two wrestlers advance to the state tournament. The last time Bay had as many as two was 1990 when Smith and Jerome Mathis advanced.

"And I still got one more year," said the junior Gray with a chuckle. "This feels great. I won't have to be alone (on the van) anymore."

Matchups for the Blue Dukes include Carlin against Wausau West's Bee Lor (43-7), Davey against Kevin Urban of New London (32-12), Gray against Kegan Gennrich of Hortonville (38-1) and Levings, with the tough matchup of defending state champ Roland Dunlap of Muskego (42-1).

The qualifiers led Bay to a third-place finish in the 16-team sectional with 82 points as Arrowhead won with 148.5 and Sussex Hamilton was second with 104.5.

Overtime decision is highlight

Perhaps the signature match of the day for the Blue Dukes was the final one, when Levings fought off old rival Keondre Walton-Cooper of Nicolet (26-14) in a 9-7 overtime decision in the wrestleback for second.

It was the only overtime match of the tourney.

Levings fell behind early in the match, but rallied to tie it and force the overtime and early in the extra session he took shot and got in on Walton-Cooper's legs and got the decisive takedown.

"You've got to win it if you want to go to state," Loebel said. "You've got to want it just that much more than the other guy. You have to have the stones to take that shot and finish it, and he did. If you miss it, you'll likely lose, but you have to try."

"This is pretty awesome," said Levings, smiling with sweat pouring off him and a little blood on his teeth. "It's the first time we've had this many kids go to state. It's a great milestone for the program. Wow, what a match. This is about the fifth time Keondre and I have met this season and every time has been a war (Levings has a 4-1 match advantage in those bouts). Keondre gave it his all.

"But I felt good about my conditioning. We work really hard on our conditioning in practice. We're in good shape, so we can get those takedowns in the third period and overtime. That's what wins matches."

Carlin had to fight through a wrestleback to get to state, too. After losing to the eventual champ from Menomonee Falls in the semifinal, he beat an Oconomowoc foe, 7-3, and then had to face Wauwatosa's Kai Castaneda (38-6) in the wrestleback.

He had lost a tough match to Castaneda in the regional the week before but got the early takedowns and fought off a late surge to get to state with a 4-3 decision.

"I was down on myself (after the loss in the semis)," Carlin said, "but I owed it to my dad and to my coach to pick myself up and get to work, which I did."

Champs on a mission

The sectional champions Davey and Gray were just as impressive.

Davey, whose brother, Luke, battled injuries all through his recent Bay career and never made it to state, was dominant, defeating Germantown (11-0 major decision) and Menomonee Falls (pin 1:21) opponents before overpowering Sussex Hamilton's Kevin DuVall (37-8) with a 10-3 decision.

"And I talked to Luke (who is an assistant coach with the team) beforehand and he said to do it for yourself," said Davey. "But I did it for the team, my brothers, my family, the whole community."

"Joey is just on a mission right now," Loebel said. "You've got to want it not just on that day, but all year long. Joey did that. He put in the work."

And as far as the old man of the group, Gray, it was a solid, workmanlike day, as he beat Falls (10-2 major decision) and Arrowhead (5-2) foes before defeating old area rival, Wilhelm Fehlhaber of Nicolet, (24-12) by a 7-3 decision in the final.

"It was a tough final," he said. "That's the fourth time I've faced him (Fehlhaber) and he's gotten better every time. It's a good thing I've worked hard on my shot and my riding this season. That really paid off.

"… This is fun, now I get the sectional bracket (card). I'm going to put that up on my wall (laughs)."

"Nothing is too big for Rash anymore," Loebel said. "He's just very relaxed and confident right now."

As is the rest of the program.

Other sectional competitors for the Blue Dukes included the following: Miguel Gomez at 120 (fourth, 9-11); Jack Ludke at 126 (16-18); Ben Lehrmann at 132 (fourth, 31-13); Andrew Reidy at 152 (third, 24-13); Paul Lovy at 170 (14-22); Joe Beck at 195 (9-10) and Steve Meyer at 220 (1-3).

"It was so real yesterday," Loebel said. "I can't tell you how great it was. It doesn't feel any less great today (Sunday)."