Titans, Auggies Ready For Nationally Ranked Rumble

Eight nationally ranked wrestlers will compete when UW-Oshkosh hosts Augsburg College (Minn.) on Friday (Feb. 10) at 7 p.m. in Kolf Sports Center. The Auggies are ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, while the Titans list 17th.

Augsburg College owns an 8-3 record despite losses in its past two bouts. However, those defeats were to top-ranked Wartburg College (Iowa) and second-ranked UW-La Crosse by scores of 22-17 and 27-13, respectively.

UW-Oshkosh's 9-3 record features a 25-14 triumph over 26th-ranked UW-Stevens Point and losses of 20-15 to UW-La Crosse, 28-8 to seventh-ranked Olivet College (Mich.) and 22-16 to ninth-ranked UW-Whitewater.

Friday’s top matchup should be at 157 pounds, where the country’s top two wrestlers in that weight class square off. Augsburg College's Orlando Ponce owns a 15-0 record and is ranked atop the national standings. UW-Oshkosh’s Nazar Kulchytskyy (So. • Sosnivka, Ukraine) is ranked second and owns a season record of 38-1 and career mark of 50-1.

Augsburg College also boasts the top-ranked wrestler at 149 pounds in Tony Valek (23-0). Jose Quintana (20-7) will try to hand Valek his first defeat of the season. The number-one wrestler at 285 pounds is Chad Johnson (26-1), who will battle Jason LaPlante (Sr. • New Berlin). Other Auggies mentioned in the top-six nationally are fifth-ranked Will Keeter at 141 pounds and sixth-ranked Brad Baus at 197 pounds.

UW-Oshkosh will be represented by seventh-ranked Zachary Mueller (Sr. • Jackson) at 125 pounds and ninth-ranked Sam Engelland (Sr. • Neenah) at 184. Mueller has won 30 of his 35 matches this year, while Engelland owns a record of 23-2.