17th-Ranked Titans Mash Blugolds

UW-Oshkosh overcame an early deficit and then rolled to a 34-12 victory over the UW-Eau Claire wrestling team on Friday (Feb. 3) in Eau Claire.

The Titans (9-3/3-2 WIAC), who entered the match ranked 17th in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, scored 18 of its points on pins by Carl DeLuca (Sr. • Wisconsin Rapids) at 133 pounds, Nazar Kulchytskyy (So. • Sosnivka, Ukraine) at 157 and Dan Schiferl (So. • Stoughton) at 174.

UW-Oshkosh jumped to a 4-0 lead on Sam Engelland's (Sr. • Neenah) 13-5 win over Mat Rieckhoff at 184 pounds. Luke Ortscheid then won with a 9-4 decision over Ryan Heath (Jr. • Merrill) at 197 pounds and Joe Pitsch pinned Keith McLeod (Fr. • Racine) in 1:32 at 285 pounds to give UW-Eau Claire (5-16/0-3 WIAC) a 9-4 lead.

UW-Oshkosh won the next three bouts to take a 19-9 advantage. The Titans went ahead on Parker Peterson's (So. • Eden) forfeit victory at 125 pounds and then remained in front for good on DeLuca's pin of Neil Manns in 3:56 and Alex Mueller's (Sr. • Jackson) 6-2 triumph over Steven Fisher at 141 pounds.

UW-Eau Claire cut the score to 19-12 on Ryan Seidler's 7-3 win over Scot McCullough (So. • Milwaukee) at 149 pounds, but the Titans finished off the match with victories by Kulchytskyy, Aaron Geiger (Sr. • Mishicot) at 165 pounds and Schiferl. Kulchytskyy, the third-ranked wrestler in the NCAA Division III, stuck Brandon Stradel to the mat in 2:43 while Schiferl plastered Tyler Kennedy to the surface in 4:52. In the center of the two pins was Geiger's 3-2 decision over Levi Polus.

UW-Oshkosh remains in Eau Claire to compete at the 34th Annual Blugold Open on Saturday (Feb. 4).