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Men's Wrestling

Titans To Wrestle At NCAA Upper Midwest Regional

Titans To Wrestle At NCAA Upper Midwest Regional

Recap Results

Admittance to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championships will be up for grabs when wrestlers from UW-Oshkosh and 17 other programs compete at the Upper Midwest Regional this weekend in Eau Claire.

Activity in the two-day tournament begins at 11 a.m. Friday (Feb. 25) and 10 a.m. Saturday (Feb. 26) from UW-Eau Claire's McPhee Physical Education Center.

Joining UW-Oshkosh's 10-member contingent at the Upper Midwest Regional will be wrestlers from Augsburg University, Aurora University (Ill.), Carthage College. Concordia College (Minn.), Concordia University Wisconsin, Elmhurst College (Ill.), Lakeland University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Pacific University (Ore.), Saint John's University (Minn.), University of Chicago (Ill.), UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Platteville, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater and Wheaton College (Ill.).

Augsburg University enters the Upper Midwest Regional as the reigning national champion after the 2020 and 2021 Division III Championships were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2019 national champion Auggies rank sixth nationally by the National Wrestling Coaches Association this season while UW-La Crosse ranks ninth, UW-Oshkosh 12th, UW-Eau Claire 16th and both University of Chicago and UW-Stevens Point 18th.

A total of 30 wrestlers, the top three finishers in each weight class, will qualify from the Upper Midwest Regional to the Division III Championship that will be held March 11-12 at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Five other Division III regional tournaments will be also held this weekend – Central Regional at Adrian College (Mich.), Lower Midwest Regional at Loras College (Iowa), Northeast Regional at Springfield College (Mass.), Mideast Regional at Elizabethtown College (Pa.) and Southeast Regional at Lycoming College (Pa.).

Augsburg University won the 2020 Upper Midwest Regional title with 196.5 team points. The Auggies were followed by second-place UW-La Crosse with 157.5 points, third-place UW-Whitewater with 116, fourth-place UW-Eau Claire with 100 and fifth-place University of Chicago with 85. UW-Oshkosh finished 11th with 44 points.

This weekend's Upper Midwest Regional is being held after a one-year absence due to the pandemic. The 2022 meet features 33 wrestlers ranked nationally, including top-ranked Beau Yineman at 197 pounds and fifth-ranked Jordan Lemcke at 285 from UW-Oshkosh.

Yineman, who repeated as the 197-pound champion at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship held Feb. 12 in UW-Oshkosh's Kolf Sports Center, brings a season record of 28-2 (13 pins) and a career mark of 67-8 (22 pins) to Eau Claire. He was a fourth-place finisher at the 2019 Upper Midwest Regional.

Lemcke, the 285-pound champion at the 2020 Upper Midwest Regional, owns a season record of 21-2 (9 pins) and a career mark of 77-41 (26 pins). He finished second in the 285-pound weight class at the 2022 WIAC Championship after placing third in 2019 and 2020 and fourth in 2021. Lemcke was a fifth-place finisher in the 285-pound category at the 2019 Upper Midwest Regional. 

Like Lemcke, UW-Oshkosh's AJ Schoenfuss and Muzi Sitshela are also making their third Upper Midwest Regional appearance. Schoenfuss (13-13 record, 6 pins in 2022) will compete at 141 pounds and Sitshela (9-12) at 174. Schoenfuss finished fifth in the 125-pound weight class at the 2019 Upper Midwest Regional.

Making his second visit to Upper Midwest Regional along with Yineman is Titan Denis Murphy (13-12 record, 2 pins in 2022). Murphy finished sixth in the 133-pound weight division at the most recent WIAC Championship.

UW-Oshkosh wrestlers making their regional debut this weekend are Luc Valdez (20-5 record, 6 pins in 2022) at 125 pounds, Bryce Jankowski (4-3, 3 pins) at 149, Nate Stokhaug (19-11, 7 pins) at 157, Preston Morgan (16-7, 6 pins) at 165 and Patrick Curran (18-10, 7 pins) at 184. Valdez finished second, Morgan third, Stokhaug fourth and Curran fifth at the 2022 WIAC Championship.