Titans Place Seventh At 15-Team UW-Eau Claire Invitational

Zachary Mueller (Jr. • Jackson) placed third and Carl DeLuca (Jr. • Wisconsin Rapids) fourth as the UW-Oshkosh wrestling team finished seventh at the UW-Eau Claire Invitational held Saturday (Feb. 12) in Eau Claire.

Defending NCAA Division III champion Augsburg College (Minn.) won the 15-team meet with 138 points, while NCAA Division II UW-Parkside finished second with 100.5, St. John's University (Minn.) third with 79 and UW-Stevens Point fourth with 59.5. UW-Oshkosh placed seventh with 34 points.

Mueller posted a 4-1 record at 133 pounds, including a 7-5 double-overtime victory over Jordan Kust of UW-Stevens Point in his third-place match. Mueller suffered an 8-3 loss to Tossaporn Suparat of Augsburg College is his opener before registering wins of 9-0 over Justin Schienebeck (So. • Butternut) of UW-Oshkosh, 14-4 over Nathan Lexvold of Augsburg College and 6-0 over Lance Fabry of UW-Stevens Point.

DeLuca compiled a 3-2 record at 125 pounds, including a pin in 4:04 of UW-Whitewater's Matt Oliva in his opening bout. DeLuca then tallied an 8-6 win over unattached Zach Stewart before dropping a 5-4 decision to Alex Helmich of Wartburg College (Iowa). DeLuca then defeated Jedd Wilson of UW-Whitewater, 7-3, before losing a 3-2 result to Martino Balsiger of UW-Platteville in his third-place contest.

Nazar Kulchytskyy (Fr. • Sosnivka, Ukraine) went unbeaten in three matches at 149 pounds, but settled for sixth place after forfeiting his remaining three matches because of an injury. Kulchytskyy began his competition with a pin in 2:48 of UW-Stevens Point's Pat Conrad. Kulchytskyy then ousted unattached Dustin McKinney, 17-6, and Cameron Wagner of Wartburg College, 5-3.

Sam Engelland (Jr. • Neenah) was one of two other Titans to post multiple victories. He compiled a 3-2 mark in the 184-pound bracket. Aaron Erickson (Jr. • Merrill) recorded one pin as he went 2-2 against his fellow 197-pounders.

Another UW-Oshkosh wrestler with one pin was Kyle Kleuskens (Sr. • Freedom), who marked a 1-2 ledger at 141 pounds. Jose Quintana (Jr. • Burnsville, Minn.) and Trevor Dyreson (Jr. • Deerfield) each had a 1-2 record at 157 pounds, while Aaron Konitzer (Jr. • Abrams) also finished 1-2 at 165 pounds.

Alec Hakes (Jr. • Menomonee Falls) booked one victory in his three matches at 174 pounds, as the trio of Chad McLaughlin (Fr. • Sussex), Nick Hite (Fr. • Stoughton) and Dylan Riley (Fr. • Belleville) each went 0-2 in the 149-pound group.

The remaining Titans – all dropping a pair of matches – were Justin Schienebeck (So. • Butternut) at 133 pounds, Mason McMullen (Fr. • New Berlin) at 141, Kyle McKearn (Fr. • Lodi) at 197 and Ryan Heath (Jr. • Merrill) at 285.

UW-Oshkosh's next competition is Feb. 27 at the WIAC Championship in Platteville.