Titans Remain Unbeaten With Dual Win Over Pointers

UW-Oshkosh won the last three bouts, including Beau Yineman's pin at 197 pounds, to overcome a four-point deficit and defeat UW-Stevens Point, 23-14, in a battle of nationally ranked Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference wrestling teams Thursday (Nov. 18) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh trailed UW-Stevens Point, 14-10, before the Titans' Patrick Curran edged Trystan Altensey, 3-2, in their 184-pound contest. Yineman gave UW-Oshkosh the lead for good at 19-14 in the next bout by sticking Keith Tourtillot to the mat in 1:49. Jordan Lemcke, competing at 285 pounds, then secured the Titans' fourth straight victory over UW-Stevens Point by ousting Ben Gunderson, 8-0, in the final bout of the evening.

Yineman (10-0) entered the match as D3wrestle.com's top-ranked NCAA Division III wrestler at 197 pounds while Lemcke (6-0) was listed eighth at 285.

The National Wrestling Coaches Association had both UW-Oshkosh (6-0 overall record, 2-0 WIAC record) and UW-Stevens Point (4-2, 0-2) ranked 14th nationally among Division III programs.

Thursday's match opened with a victory for each team. Titan Luc Valdez started the evening with his 5-1 decision over Blaze Thurber at 125 pounds before UW-Stevens Point's Matt Berlin outscored Jake Stritesky, 4-1, at 133. Berlin (11-1) entered the bout ranked second nationally.

UW-Oshkosh then won the next two contests to take a 10-3 lead. The Titans built their advantage on an 8-6 victory by AJ Schoenfuss over Cooper Peterson at 141 pounds and a 12-3 triumph by Eli Mondrella over Isaiah Baker at 149. 

UW-Stevens Point answered UW-Oshkosh's two straight victories with three consecutive wins of their own to take a 14-10 lead. The Pointers received wins of 9-6 from Luke Smiley over Nate Stokhaug at 157 pounds, 19-4 (7:00) from Brandon Peckham over Issac Ortegon at 165 and 3-1 from Ben Kasten over Preston Morgan at 174.

The match also featured eight bouts that were not included in the dual meet scoring. UW-Oshkosh won five of those contests, including pins by Colby McHugh at 133 pounds and Malia Montero at 155. McHugh stuck Kaden Rosas to the mat in 2:15 while Montero glued Jade Herzer to the surface in 3:00.

Other winners for the Titans were Andrew Schad at 133 pounds, Adib Korabi at 157 and Muzi Sitshela at 165. Schad defeated Rosas, 7-1, whole Korabi ousted Alex Gundrum, 9-5. Sitshela was a 9-2 winner over Josh Heuss.  

UW-Oshkosh is off until it wrestles at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Invitational on Dec. 4.

Photo by Steve Frommell, UW-Oshkosh Athletics