Engelland, Mueller Lead Titans At Pete Willson Invitational

Sam Engelland (So. • Neenah) and Zachary Mueller (So. • Jackson) were place winners as the UW-Oshkosh wrestling team finished 18th at the Pete Willson Invitational held Friday and Saturday (Jan. 29-30) in Wheaton, Ill.

NCAA Division II UW-Parkside captured the team title with 175.5 points, while Heidelberg University (Ohio) placed second with 108.5, UW-La Crosse third with 92, North Central College (Ill.) fourth with 89 and Elmhurst College (Ill.) fifth with 86.5. UW-Oshkosh finished 18th among the 30 competing teams with 36 points.

Engelland placed fourth in the 174-pound weight division with a 3-2 record. He defeated David Jones of Messiah College (Pa.), 5-2, and Cowan Brown of North Central College, 3-2, before suffering a 3-1 setback to top-seeded Luke Rynish of UW-Parkside.

Engelland then won a 9-3 decision over Greg Rhoads of Wabash College (Ind.) and lost an 8-1 verdict to Kyle Kwiat of Ohio Northern University.

Mueller took sixth place in the 125-pound weight class with a 3-3 record. He won his first three bouts, including pins in 1:39 over Rolland Wimberley of Truman State University (Mo.) and 35 seconds over Shawn Feistamel of Muskingum College (Ohio).

Following a 8-6 triumph over Riki Reynolds of Mount Union College (Ohio), Mueller lost decisions of 4-0 to top-seeded Cody Zimmerman of UW-Parkside, 9-6 to Albie McKinney of UW-La Crosse and 7-4 to Reynolds.

UW-Oshkosh's James Dederich (Jr. • Menomonee Falls) and Jose Quintana (So. • Burnsville, Minn.) both posted 2-2 records.

Dederich, competing at 165 pounds, lost on a pin in 2:35 to Vinny Alber of UW-Platteville. Dederich bounced back with pins in 2:33 over Jake D'Acquisto of UW-Whitewater and 1:25 over Graham Youngs of Wabash College before losing on a pin in 1:37 to George Markou of Trine University (Ind.).

Quintana, participating at 149 pounds, dropped a 16-1 result to Charlie Curran of Elmhurst College in his opening match, He then recorded wins of 12-6 over Donovan Sarno of the University of Chicago (Ill.) and 10-1 over Isaac Roberson of Lakeland College before dropping a 6-4 verdict to David Lopez of the University of Indianapolis (Ind.).

Jason LaPlante (So. • New Berlin) added a 1-2 record for the Titans at 285 pounds. His lone victory was a pin in 3:41 over Justin Southwick of Ohio Northern University.

UW-Oshkosh wrestlers going 0-2 in the tournament were Kyle Kleuskens (Jr. • Freedom) at 133 pounds, Carl DeLuca (So. • Wisconsin Rapids) at 141, Dan Schiferl (Fr. • Stoughton) at 157, Aaron Erickson (So. • Merrill) at 184 and Ryan Heath (So. • Merrill) at 197.

UW-Oshkosh returns to WIAC action at UW-Eau Claire on Friday (Feb. 5).