UWL Finishes Fifth at Wheaton Invite; Schultz Wins Title

Team Standings
Brackets

Wheaton, Ill. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team placed fifth at the Pete Willson Wheaton College (Ill.) Invitational Saturday afternoon in King Arena. The Eagles finished with 108.0 team points with six wrestlers placing. Messiah College (Pa.) won the tournament title with 137.0 points while the University of Mount Union (Ohio) was second with 130.5. UW-Whitewater placed third (120.5) and Baldwin-Wallace University (Ohio) fourth (118.0). A total of 38 teams competed.

UWL's Wesley Schultz captured the 197-pound division with a 5-0 record. Schultz, seeded fifth, opened with a win by fall (:52) over Alex Roberts of Manchester University (Ind.) before winning by decision (10-5) over Grant Martin of Mount Union (Ohio). He defeated Ramsey Bloy of UW-Eau Claire by decision (8-5) in the quarterfinals to complete Friday's action. Schultz opened Saturday's action with a win by fall (5:32) over top-ranked and top-seeded Jordan Newman of UW-Whitewater in the semifinals. He captured the 197-pound title with a win by fall (1:00) over second-seeded and fourth-ranked Kyle Koser of Messiah (Pa.).

Schultz earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the completion of the tournament.

13697 — Jim Gruenwald (Wheaton coach) and Wesley Schultz

Mitch Hertel finished third for UWL at 165-pounds with a two-day record of 6-1. He opened with a win by fall (4:00) over Jake Poole of Augustana College (Ill.) in the first round Friday followed by a win by decision (5-2) over Eric Martinson of Concordia in the second round. Hertel lost by decision (5-1) third-seeded and seventh-ranked Jeff Hojnacki of Messiah (Pa.) in the quarterfinals, but came back Friday with a win by major decision (12-2) over Nathan Hunt of Nebraska Wesleyan University. He went 3-0 Saturday, opening the day with win by decision (8-4) over Jesse Gross of Mount Union (Ohio). Hertel advanced to the third-place match after a medical forfeit victory over top-seeded and fifth-ranked Frank Aiello of Wheaton (Ill.) and captured third-place with a win by decision (6-3) over Kahlan Lee-Lermer of University of Chicago (Ill.).

The Eagles' Zach Villarreal placed fourth at 125-pounds Saturday. He went 5-1 in the two-day tournament. Villarreal opened with a pair of wins by fall Friday, defeating Moe Mitchell of North Central University (Ill.) (2:09) and Josh Stephenson of Manchester (Ind.) (:55). He then lost by decision (5-0) to Christopher Doyle of Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) in the quarterfinals. Villarreal, seeded third in the tournament ranked eighth in the nation, came back to win by fall (5:24) over Jimmy Murphy of Thomas More University (Ky.) in his first consolation match Friday. On Saturday, Villarreal went 2-1. He won by decision (8-7) over Ben Vosters of UW-Stevens Point in the fourth round of the consolation and by medical forfeit over fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Nick Mancini of Mount Union (Ohio) in the consolation semifinals. Villarreal dropped the third-place match by decision (10-3) to second-seeded and seventh-ranked Mike Tortorice of UW-Whitewater.

UWL's Josh Stenger (133-pounds), Hayden Schlough (141) and Grant Zamin (157) each placed sixth Saturday.

Stenger placed sixth with an overall record of 4-3 at 133-pounds. Seeded seventh in the tournament, Stenger received a first-round bye Friday before losing by fall (4:11) to Nolan Wochna of Mount Union (Ohio.). He came back with four straight wins in the consolation half of the bracket. Stenger won by decision (12-6) over Tanner Yenter of Thomas More (Ky.) in his first match in the consolation round followed by a win by decision (8-1) over Alec Hoover of Case Western Reserve University (Ohio). He won by fall (:30) over fourth-seeded Ben Cauffman of Manchester (Ind.) in the third round of consolation action and by fall (2:05) over eighth-seeded Bailey Cooper of Ferrum (Va.) in the fourth round. Stenger lost by decision (7-2) to second-seeded and sixth-ranked Hazen Rice of UW-Whitewater in the consolation semifinals and dropped the fifth-place by decision (6-4) to fifth-seeded Brendan Gould of Augustana (Ill.).

Sixth-seeded Schlough finished sixth at 141-pounds with a two-day record of 3-3. After receiving a first-round bye Friday, Schlough won by decision (11-8) over Caleb Maddox of Trine University (Ind.) before losing by decision (7-6) to third-seeded Jimmy McAuliffe of Elmhurst College (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. He came back with a pair of wins in the consolation round, earning a win by fall (1:42) over Slade Todd of Heidelberg University (Ohio) and by major decision (12-4) over Andrew Hoover of Case Western Reserve (Ohio). Schlough lost by decision (8-6) to top-seeded Chase Wilson of Manchester (Ind.) in the consolation semifinals and lost by decision (11-4) to McAuliffe in the fifth-place match.

Seventh-seeded Zamin was sixth at 157-pounds with a 3-3 mark. He advanced to the semifinals after going 3-0 Friday. Zamin defeated JaVon Phillips of Manchester (Ind.) by major decision (12-4) in the first round, won by forfeit over Zachary Jandereski of Alma College (Mich.) in the second, and by decision (5-2) over Michael McIntire of Mount Union (Ohio) in the quarterfinals. He lost by decision (6-3) to sixth-seeded Brad Kerhoff of Buena Vista University (Iowa) in the semifinals and by decision (7-2) to Steve Bonsall of Chicago (Ill.) in the consolation semifinals. Zamin finished sixth after losing by fall (1:34) to eighth-seeded Isaiah Vela of UW-Whitewater for fifth-place.

In other action Friday, seventh-seeded Sawyer Massie wrestled at 174-pounds, and won his two first rounds to advance to the quarterfinals. He won by decision (4-0) over James Borgen of UW-Stevens Point in the opening round and by fall (2:35) over Nick Ferraro of the Chicago (Ill.) in his second match. He lost by decision (8-4) to Jairod James of Mount Union (Ohio) in the quarterfinals and was eliminated from competition after a loss by decision (13-6) to Blake Dixon of John Carroll University (Ohio).

At 184-pounds, Lee Fuller drew top-ranked Grant Wedepohl of UW-Platteville in the first round, losing by technical fall (16-0, 7:00). Fuller won two matches in the consolation bracket, before a loss by fall (1:38) to Dan Squires of UW-Stevens Point knocked him out of the competition. Fuller defeated Griffin Meeker of Millikin University (Ill.) by decision (12-8) and Cash Thompson of Ohio Northern University by decision (5-0).

Spencer Nevills, sixth-seed at 149-pounds, went 1-2 Friday. He lost by decision (6-5) to Riley Rasler of Trine (Ind.) in the opening round before a major decision win (10-0) over Toby Warrington of Muskingum. Nevills was eliminated with a loss by fall (:58) to Matt Sears of Augustana (Ill.).

UWL returns to action Friday, February 2 at UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.

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