Titans Have Five Place Winners At Pete Willson Invitational
The UW-Oshkosh wrestling team benefited from five place-winning performances to finish eighth among 38 squads at the Wheaton College Pete Willson Invitational held Friday and Saturday (Jan. 25-26) in Wheaton, Ill.
University of Mount Union (Ohio), ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, captured the team title with 135 points. The Purple Raiders had the champion in weight classes at 133, 149, 157 and 174 pounds.
Finishing immediately behind the University of Mount Union in the team standings were second-place and 11th-ranked North Central College (Ill.) with 105.5 points, third-place and fifth-ranked Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio) with 98, fourth-place and 14th-ranked UW-Whitewater with 91.5 and fifth-place UW-Platteville with 84.
Rounding out the top 10 teams were sixth-place and 15th-ranked Olivet College (Mich.) with 80.5 points, seventh-place and ninth-ranked UW-La Crosse with 79.5, eighth-place and 23rd-ranked UW-Oshkosh with 76.5, ninth-place and 16th-ranked Millikin University (Ill.) with 74.5 and 10th-place Otterbein University (Ohio) with 70.
Two-time All-American Mark Choinski led UW-Oshkosh with a third-place finish at 165 pounds. UW-Oshkosh also had Jordan Lemcke finish fourth at 285 pounds, Beau Yineman fifth at 197, Colten Cashmore seventh at 184 and AJ Schoenfuss eighth at 125. All five Titans competed in a bracket that featured between 30-35 wrestlers.
Choinski compiled a 5-1 record and won his third-place bout with an 8-1 victory over UW-La Crosse's Jackson Schoen.
Choinski (24-1) opened with a pin of Defiance College's (Ohio) Tyler Houston in 2:03 and victories of 8-0 over Ohio Northern University's Jordan Hardrick and 6-0 over University of Chicago's (Ill.) Kahlan Lee-Lemer before suffering an 11-5 loss to Buena Vista University's (Iowa) Brad Kerkhoff. Choinski followed his loss to Kerkhoff with an 8-1 victory over Olivet College's Tyler Grimsley.
Lemcke posted a 4-2 record and lost his third-place match on a pin in 5:00 to Nebraska Wesleyan University's Justin Hennessy.
Lemcke (18-10) began his slate of activity with wins of 3-1 (sudden-victory) over Ferrum College's (Va.) Alverno Matthews, 6-3 over Mount St. Joseph University's (Ohio) Cameron Sauerwein and 3-1 (sudden-victory) over Olivet College's Trevor Piggott. Lemcke then lost a 2-0 decision to UW-Platteville's Lucius Rinehart before sticking North Central College's Audel Ochoa to the mat in 3:35.
Yineman also tallied a 4-2 record. He won his fifth-place bout on a forfeit surrendered by Mount St. Joseph University's Antonio McCloud.
Yineman (26-3) started his competition with wins of 12-2 over Milwaukee School of Engineering's Duncan Heath, 9-0 over Trine University's (Ind.) Chase Gibson and 12-4 over Otterbein University's Corbin Bunsold. Yineman then lost a 5-3 sudden-victory to North Central College's Tyler Vittal before losing a 4-0 result to UW-Whitewater's Riley Kauzlaric.
Cashmore matched Lemcke and Yineman by compiling a 4-2 record. Cashmore won his seventh-place contest with a 5-2 triumph over Avery Jones of Thomas More College (Ky.).
Cashmore (18-6) pinned Manchester University's (Ind.) DJ Bell in 3:00 and defeated Millikin University's Griffin Meeker, 8-0, in his first two bouts. He then lost a 7-3 score to Wheaton College's Isaac Odell, posted a 3-0 win over Buena Vista University's Dylan Huntoon and suffered a 5-0 setback to Trine University's Luke Carver.
Schoenfuss split his six decisions, including pins in 1:29 over Millikin University's Elijah Diaz and 7:50 over Baldwin Wallace University's Chad Craft in his first two bouts.
Schoenfuss (18-7) then lost a 12-9 decision to Wheaton College's Carlos Fuentez before pinning Nebraska Wesleyan University's Eron Haynes in 1:55 and being pinned in 35 seconds by John Carroll University's (Ohio) Andrew Peralka. Schoenfuss lost his seventh-place match by a 17-5 score to North Central College's Ian Mullen.
The Titans also received records of 0-2 from Zach McDowell at 133 pounds and 1-2 from Wesam Alabed at 149, Muzi Sitshela at 157 and Husam Alabed at 174.
UW-Oshkosh is off until it hosts UW-Platteville next Saturday (Feb. 2) in Kolf Sports Center.
Photo by Jim Lund