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Men's Wrestling

Kulchytskyy's Title Leads Titans To Fourth-Place WIAC Finish

Nazar Kulchytskyy (So. • Sosnivka, Ukraine) became UW-Oshkosh's first individual champion in over a decade when he wrestled to the 157-pound title at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship held Sunday (Feb. 26) in Whitewater.

Kulchytskyy, ranked second in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, received a first-round bye and then went unbeaten in two matches. Kulchytskyy (40-2) pinned Corey Schmidt of UW-Whitewater in 1:48 before winning the weight class with a 22-9 victory over Ben Strobel of UW-Stevens Point. The last UW-Oshkosh wrestler to capture a WIAC individual championship was 149-pounder Joel Dziedzic in 2001.

UW-Whitewater scored 108.5 points to win its first team title since 1991 and the 13th in school history. Fourteen-time defending champion UW-La Crosse finished second with 96 points, while UW-Stevens Point placed third with 70.5, UW-Oshkosh fourth with 66, UW-Eau Claire fifth with 14 and UW-Platteville sixth with nine. UW-Oshkosh also finished fourth at last year's meet.

UW-Oshkosh had Sam Engelland (Sr. • Neenah), Zachary Mueller (Sr. • Jackson), Jose Quintana (Sr. • Burnsville, Minn.) and Dan Schiferl (So. • Stoughton) also score valuable team points by advancing to the final and taking second in their weight division.

Engelland, ranked ninth in the country at 184 pounds, won his first two bouts before dropping a 3-1 overtime decision to UW-Whitewater's David Dwyer in the championship contest. Engelland (26-3) qualified for the final by posting wins of 9-4 over UW-Stevens Point's Andy Borchardt and 7-3 over UW-La Crosse's Grant Miller.

After receiving two byes, Mueller needed just an 11-3 win over UW-La Crosse's Joey Nelson to reach the final of the 125-pound bracket. Mueller (32-7) lost a 9-0 decision to UW-Whitewater's Grant Sutter in the championship contest and then had to tally a 9-1 victory over UW-Stevens Point's Lance Fabry to secure second place.

Like Mueller, Quintana also received two byes. He advanced to the final of the 149-pound weight class with a pin of UW-La Crosse's Brady Schrupp in 1:55. Quintana (22-8) lost a 14-6 ruling to UW-Whitewater's Cade Sarbacker in the title match and then had to post a 19-10 triumph over UW-Stevens Point's Jamey Simmons to grab second place.

Following two byes, Schiferl earned an appearance in the final of the 174-pound weight division with a 6-4 win over UW-Stevens Point's Ryan Conat. In the championship bout, Schiferl (25-10) lost a 7-5 verdict to UW-La Crosse's Mike Schmitz. Schiferl then had to notch a 14-2 victory over UW-Whitewater's Reid Dickerson to take second place.

Other UW-Oshkosh competitors at the meet were Carl DeLuca (Sr. • Wisconsin Rapids) at 133 pounds, Alex Mueller (Sr. • Jackson) at 141, Aaron Konitzer (Sr. • Abrams) at 165, Ryan Heath (Jr. • Merrill) at 197 and Jason LaPlante (Sr. • New Berlin) at 285. Konitzer and Heath both placed fourth while DeLuca, Mueller and LaPlante all finished fifth.

Rounding out the list of WIAC individual champions were Adam Sheley (133 pounds), Bebeto Yewah (141 pounds) and Kevin O'Brien (165 pounds) of UW-La Crosse and Adam Latella (197 pounds) and Corey Anderson (285 pounds) of UW-Whitewater. Yewah was named the John Peterson Wrestler of the Meet.

All 10 individual champions, along with six at-large qualifiers, will represent the WIAC at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship on March 9-10 in La Crosse. Individuals securing at-large spots were Engelland, Strobel, UW-Whitewater's Jake Fredricksen (133 pounds), UW-La Crosse's Billy Mayer (285 pounds), UW-Stevens Point's Joe Mileski (133 pounds) and UW-Platteville's T.J. Wunnicke (133 pounds).