By Joe Shinners Milwaukee Marquette Hilltoppers wrestling coach Ralph DeNisco chose to look on the bright side of his team’s large school title at the 10th annual Red Knight Invitational Saturday at Milwaukee Lutheran. The Hilltopppers wrestled with only 10 of 14 wrestlers after a spate of injures depleted the squad in recent weeks, but still managed to send five wrestlers to the finals, claim three individual champions, post one of the tournament’s biggest upsets and walked away with a team title trophy at the tournament for the first time. Marquette finished first in the large school division with 178.5 points, ahead of Wisconsin Lutheran (145) and Milwaukee Pius (117) at the 18-team tournament. But Marquette could not catch Lake Mills Lakeside Lutheran, which won the small school title and overall title with 185 points. Oshkosh Lourdes (158 points) finished third overall, followed by Wisconsin Lutheran and La Crosse Aquinas (137.5) in the top five. “I thought we could do well at this tournament,” said DeNisco, in his second year. “We only had 10 guys, but we had eight of the 10 place and put five in the finals. I like the odds of going into any tournament with numbers like that. What helps is we had a lot of kids wrestle all year round.” Lakeside was too deep for Marquette to catch, however. Lakeside had nine of its 14 wrestlers place, sent four wrestlers to the finals and came away with two champions to hold off the Hilltoppers. A total of 13 Lakeside wrestlers scored points and the difference gave Lakeside its first overall tournament title at the event. “The last two weeks we’ve really been working hard to get ready for this tournament, and it made a world of difference. I thought we could do well here, but we’re young,” said Lakeside coach Jason Nickels. “Those are all juniors and sophomores out there.” Marquette received titles from freshman Gabe Grahek (22-9 at 103 pounds), junior Jonathan Bleach (16-3 at 152) and senior Mike Brennan (11-3 at 215). Grahek outlasted Madison Edgewood/Monona Grove senior Kris Neumann (25-2), the defending champ at 103, in double overtime to post a 3-1 victory. Marquette senior 285-pounder Marco DeGuire (3-1) posted the biggest upset of the day when he pinned Milwaukee Heritage Christian senior Dylan Lange (15-5) in 5:09 in the semifinals. Lange was a state qualifier a year ago and is ranked in Division 3; DeGuire hadn’t competed on varsity this year and entered with a 0-0 record. Milwaukee Lutheran senior Taylor Witty ended DeGuire’s run by defeating him by a 9-0 major decision in the 285 final. Catholic Memorial junior Matt Krause (17-3) posted the biggest comeback in the finals as he turned back Wisconsin Lutheran sophomore Logan Nygaard, 13-11, in overtime at 125. Krause trailed, 9-5, with 1:10 to go in the third before he threw and nearly pinned Nygaard with 45 seconds left to take a 10-9 lead. Nygaard scored off a reversal to take an 11-10 lead, but Krause escaped to force overtime and scored a takedown to win in OT. Kenosha St. Joseph saw two wrestlers win titles in junior Zach Fischer (26-2 at 135) and senior Spencer Lemens (30-3). It was Fischer’s second tournament title. Oshkosh Lourdes junior AJ Zemke (31-2 at 145) was the other repeat champ. Milwaukee Pius senior Quinton Michalski (22-3 at 119) and Wisconsin Lutheran senior Darvel Winfrey (20-4) also won titles. Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../../07-08_Article_Archive/Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1