Titans Post Fifth-Place Finish At UW-Eau Claire Invitational

A trio of top-three finishes included Sam Engelland’s (So. • Neenah) second-place result as the UW-Oshkosh wrestling team earned fifth place at the UW-Eau Claire Invitational on Saturday (Feb. 6) in Eau Claire.

Augsburg College (Minn.) compiled 221 points to win the 13-team event, while UW-La Crosse took second with 149.5 and UW-Parkside third with 126. St. John’s University (Minn.) came in the fourth position with 109 points, followed by the Titans with 93.

Engelland prevailed in his first three bouts to reach the championship match at 174 pounds. He topped Bruce Babcock, 20-6, Grant Goettl, 5-0, and Ryan Woods by a 3-1 count in overtime. Luke Rynish then earned a 3-1 overtime decision against Engelland for the title.

UW-Oshkosh received third-place listings from both Carl DeLuca (So. • Wisconsin Rapids) and Aaron Erickson (So. • Merrill). DeLuca went 2-1 at 125 pounds, including an 8-5 decision over Sean Blumhardt and a 7-4 triumph against Sean Tomac in the third-place bout.

Erickson’s 3-1 record featured a pin in 2:17 against James Carlson to take third place. Before that he bested Martin Hagen, 8-7, and Nic Barclay, 10-7. Lucas Haag won the 184-pound division as he dealt Erickson his only loss on a pin in 3:59.

Fifth-place performances came from both Zachary Mueller (So. • Jackson) and Aaron Geiger (So. • Mishicot). Mueller fell to Jamie Rocha, 3-2, before rattling off three consecutive victories. He topped Matt Oliva, 10-0, Louis Mazzetta, 5-3, and won by injury default against Sean Blumhardt for fifth place at 125 pounds.

Geiger rallied with wins in his last five contests at 165 pounds. Three of those came via pin, including one in 1:46 against Craig Eckelberg, another in 2:58 against Quincy Voris and the final in just 48 seconds against Jeff Erkel. His other success came on a 9-0 decision over Levi Polus before taking fifth place against teammate James Dederich (Jr. • Menomonee Falls) on an injury default.

Dederich tallied a 4-2 record, as did Jose Quintana (So. • Burnsville, Minn.). Other Titans earning a victory were Trevor Dyreson (So. • Deerfield) with a 3-2 mark, Kyle Kleuskens (Jr. • Freedom) with a 2-2 tally and Justin Schienebeck (Fr. • Butternut) with a 1-2 posting.

UW-Oshkosh travels to UW-Platteville on Friday (Feb. 12) for its final WIAC dual match of the season.