Wrestling improved their record to 2-0 on the season with a close 37-33 victory over rival the rival Churchill Bulldogs. Although the two schools are usually in historically tight competition, Whitman has defeated the Bulldogs for three consecutive years.
After heavyweight John Vipulis narrowly lost 3-0 in the opening match, the Vikes bounced back with an incredible reversal into a pin for 106lb Clark Boinis, who is coming of a knee injury.
Dropping their next two matches, Whitman fell in a 6-12 deficit, however a speedy second period pin by 126lb Andrew Shiman tied the match and kept the Vikings in the game. The Vikes then hit the center of their lineup which has been reliable and strong all season.
132lb James Bamberger, 145lb Hamoon Shokoohinia and 152lb Mitch Fenton all picked up decisive victories, regaining the lead and making the score 25-18.
Captain Evan Smith was leading 2-0 in his match until suffering a knee injury. As he was being evaluated by a trainer, Chuchill’s head coach audibly objected claiming that Smith was faking the injury to prevent himself from being pinned.
Smith continued to wrestle through the pain, but after torquing the knee once again, was forced to forfeit his match. The Churchill coach apologized to Smith about his comments after the meet was over.
Fired up, 170lb Marcos Solloso managed to dominate his opponent, pinning him in the third period.
“I got a little personal, I couldn’t let them do that to my friend,” Solloso said.
182lb Matt McClanahan secured the win for Whitman with a solid second period pin, putting the Vikes up 37-24.
McClanahan, who also secured the win for Whitman two year ago, says that Churchill is the opponent he looks forward to competing against each year.
“We don’t lose to Churchill, we hate Churchill,” he said.
Whitman dropped their final two matches leaving the final score 37-33. The team’s next match is Saturday versus Richard Montgomery.
“They’ve got some tough kids, we’ve got three practices and a lot to learn,” head coach Derek Manon said.
