NCAA Division III Upper Midwest Regional Website

Mequon, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team finished second at the 2023 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Upper Midwest Regional Saturday at Concordia University Wisconsin. The Eagles totaled 142.5 team points while Augsburg University (Minn.) won the title with 176.0. 

UW-Eau Claire placed third (128.5) with UW-Whitewater fourth (117.0) and UW-Platteville fifth (111.0). A total of 19 teams competed. 

UWL advanced seven wrestlers to the NCAA Division III Championships scheduled for March 10-11 at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia. Thirty wrestlers, the top-three finishers in each of the 10 weight classes at the Upper Midwest Regional, advance to the national championships. 

The Eagles had a pair of individual regional winners on Saturday with Nolan Hertel winning the 157-pound title and Noah Leisgang the 165-pound division. Both wrestlers went 4-0 in the two-day tournament. Hertel won by fall (2:25) over UW-Stevens Point's Alex Gundrum in the opening round on Friday and earned a technical fall (22-7, 6:09) over UW-Whitewater's Lucio Morgan in the quarterfinals. He won major decision (8-0) over Aiden Brosinski of UW-Platteville in the semifinals and took the championship with a decision (3-2) over Tyler Shilson of Augsburg (Minn.). 

At 165-pounds, Leisgang advanced to the semifinals with a decision (4-1) over Coy Ruess of UW-Platteville in the quarterfinals. Leisgang won by technical fall (19-2, 4:29) in his first round match with Francisco Endi of Pacific Lutheran (Ore.). He won by decision (5-1) over Ryan Vedner of UW-Whitewater in Saturday's semifinals and captured the crown with a decision (9-3) over Cooper Willis of Augsburg (Minn.). 
 

Seth Brossard (174) and Michael Douglas (285) each placed second on Saturday. Brossard went 3-0 overall, earning wins by technical fall and fall in Friday's first two rounds. He defeated Christian Gilbert of Carthage College (Wis.) by technical fall (17-0, 4:53) in the first round and advanced to the semifinals with a fall (3:49) over Tyler Joseph from the University of Chicago (Ill.). Brossard won by fall (4:45) over Luke Silva of Aurora University (Ill.) in the semifinals, but had to medically forfeit to Jared Stricker of UW-Eau Claire in the title match. 

Douglas went 3-1 in the regional. He earned a fall (1:13) over Tom Allen of Saint John's University (Minn.) in his opening match on Friday and advanced to the semifinals with a decision (3-2) over Cole Fibranz of Chicago (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. Douglas won by decision (3-2) over Chase Melton of UW-Eau Claire in the semifinals before losing by fall (1:03) to Tyler Kim of Augsburg (Minn.) for the championship. 
 

Brandon Murphy (125), Tyler Goebel (149) and Kalyn Jahn (184) all advanced to the NCAA III Championships with third-place finishes on Saturday. All three wrestlers went 4-1 in the regional. Murphy opened with a win by decision (3-1) at 125-pounds over Jake Hamulak of the University of Chicago (Ill.) in the first round and earned a win by decision (6-2) over Thomas Turner of Pacific Lutheran University (Ore.) in the quarterfinals. He lost by decision (5-3) to Luc Valdez of UW-Oshkosh in the semifinals on Saturday morning, but came back with a pair of victories. Murphy won by decision (5-4) over Hamulak in the consolation semifinals and took third-place with a decision (7-4) over Derek Steele of Augsburg (Minn.). 

Goebel opened with a major decision (13-1) over Luke Moczynski before a win by decision (15-10) over Veliko Kochiu of Concordia Wisconsin in the quarterfinals in Friday's action. He lost by decision (5-4) to Charlie Stuhl of Augsburg (Minn.) in the semifinals, but came back with a win (4-2) over Ryan Fleck of Chicago (Ill.) in the consolation semifinals. Goebel earned third-place with a win by decision (9-7) over Zach Sato of UW-Eau Claire. 

UWL's Jahn opened with a win by fall (2:11) over Devin Rogers of Carthage (Wis.) in the first round and then won by decision (4-0) over Trystan Altensey of UW-Stevens Point in the quarterfinals. After losing by fall (:59) to Jaritt Shinhoster of UW-Whitewater in the semifinals, Jahn won by decision (3-1) over Kasey Ross of UW-Platteville in the consolation semifinals. He took third-place with a major decision (12-0) over Trystan Altensey of UW-Stevens Point. 

The Eagles' Sam Lorenz finished seventh at the regional championships at 141-pounds with a 3-2 record. He won by fall (1:10) over Shoichi Hashimoto of Lakeland University (Wis.) in the first round on Friday before losing by decision (5-2) to Ethan Harsted of Wheaton College (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. He came back with a win by fall (1:55) over Alec Schmacht of UW-Platteville in the consolation second round. Lorenz lost by decision (8-4) to Andrew Kested of UW-Eau Claire in Saturday's consolation third round, but earned seventh with a win by fall (:56) over Troy Mock of Elmhurst College (Ill.).

Zach Weiler went 2-1 at 133-pounds to finish eighth overall. After dropping his first match by fall (1:29) to Blaze Thurber of UW-Stevens Point on Friday, Weiler took his next two. He won by major decision (16-2) over Brendan Johnston of Wheaton (Ill.) in the consolation first round and by sudden victory (8-6) over Cade Willis of Augsburg (Minn.) in the consolation second round. Ty Bisek won by injury default (3:00) over Weiler in Saturday's consolation third round. Weiler was forced to medically forfeit the seventh-place match with Thurber. 

Ben Kawczynski went 1-2 at 197-pounds on Friday.