Kulchytskyy Wins Third Straight NCAA Wrestling Title

UW-Oshkosh's Nazar Kulchytskyy became a three-time champion while teammate Dan Schiferl earned his first All-America award at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship held Friday and Saturday (March 14-15) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Kulchytskyy won all five of his 157-pound contests, including a pin in 4:20 of Coe College's (Iowa) Dimitri Boyer in the championship match. Kulchytskyy, a senior, advanced to the final with a 3-2 victory over Reece Lefever of Wabash College (Ind.).

A champion at 157 pounds in 2012 and 165 in 2013, Kulchytskyy started this year's journey with an 18-4 win over Kristopher Krawchuk of Wilkes University (Pa.). He followed that triumph with victories of 10-5 over Josh Etzel of Washington & Jefferson College (Pa.) and 5-3 over Brett Yonkovic of Wartburg College (Iowa).

Kulchytskyy, who was named the championship's Most Outstanding Wrestler, finished the season with a 41-2 record (21 pins). The only NCAA champion in UW-Oshkosh history concluded his career with a 142-5 record (67 pins).

After finishing ninth in both 2012 and 2013, Schiferl broke through to place fourth and collect an All-America citation in the 174-pound weight class. Schiferl went 3-2 in his five contests, including a 4-2 loss to Coe College's Ethan Bell in the third-place match.

Schiferl started strong, posting wins of 6-2 over Nicholas Allen of Olivet College (Mich.) and 6-3 over Conner Lefever of Wabash College. Following a 4-3 loss to Anthony Bonaventura of Waynesburg College (Pa.), Schiferl defeated Zach Zotollo of The College of New Jersey, 8-6.

Schiferl, a senior, ended the season with a 32-6 record (seven pins) and his career with a 94-41 mark (32 pins).

In addition to Kulchytskyy, other individual winners were Mike Fuenffinger of Augsburg College at 125 pounds, Kenny Anderson of Wartburg College at 133, Kaleb Loht of Messiah College at 141, Ryan Prater of Elmhurst College (Ill.) at 149, Cole Welter of Wartburg College at 165, Landon Williams of Wartburg College at 174, Riley Lefever of Wabash College at 184, Alex Coolidge of Cornell College (Iowa) at 197 and James Buss of Loras College (Iowa) at 285.

Wartburg College took first place in the 65-team meet with 103.5 points. UW-Whitewater finished second with 67 points, while Messiah College (Pa.) placed third with 64, Coe College fourth with 54 and Augsburg College (Minn.) fifth with 43. It was the fourth straight title for Wartburg College and 11th overall.

UW-Oshkosh scored 34.5 points to finish 10th in the team competition. The ranking was the Titans' highest since they placed sixth in 1982. Last year, UW-Oshkosh finished 17th with 20 points.