Kulchytskyy, Mueller Capture Willson Invitational Titles

Individual titles by Nazar Kulchytskyy (So. • Sosnivka, Ukraine) and Zachary Mueller (Sr. • Jackson) propelled the UW-Oshkosh wrestling team to a seventh-place finish at the Pete Willson Invitational held Friday and Saturday (Jan. 27-28) in Wheaton, Ill.

UW-Oshkosh, ranked 17th in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, totaled 79.5 points to share seventh place in the 31-team tournament with North Central College (Ill.).

NCAA Division II UW-Parkside captured the team title with 117.5 points, while UW-Whitewater finished second with 102, University of Mount Union (Ohio) third with 92.5, NCAA Division II University of Indianapolis (Ind.) fourth with 91.5, Olivet College (Mich.) fifth with 88 and Ohio Northern University sixth with 86. Olivet College entered the meet ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III, UW-Whitewater ninth, Ohio Northern University 12th and the University of Mount Union 16th.

Kulchytskyy, ranked third in the NCAA Division III, won the 157-pound weight class with a 2-1 victory over top-ranked Elias Larson of Trine University (Ind.) in the championship bout. Kulchytskyy (36-1) advanced to the title match on a medical forfeit by UW-Parkside's Dillon Bera. Kulchytskyy went 5-0 in the tournament, with his over results being a pin in 1:32 over Chris Hardenberg of Messiah College (Pa.) and wins of 13-5 over Zack Sheridan of Elizabethtown College (Pa.) and 17-8 over Michael Letcher of Ohio Northern University.

The eighth-ranked Mueller took his 125-pound weight division with a medical forfeit by top-ranked Nathan Fitzenreider of North Central College in the championship contest. Mueller qualified for the first-place bout with a 9-5 win over seventh-ranked Robbie Bidlingmaier of Olivet College. Mueller (30-5) also pinned Danny Lethbridge of Messiah College in 1:00 and ousted Collin Lesko of Alma College (Mich.), 8-0, to go 4-0 in the tournament.

UW-Oshkosh's Dan Schiferl (So. • Stoughton) placed sixth in the 174-pound weight category with a 2-3 record. Schiferl (20-9) lost his fifth-place match on a 4-3 score to Matt Cross of Messiah College. Schiferl began his competition by sticking Matt Mangelli of Western New England College to the mat in 2:14. He then defeated Cross, 9-5, before losing decisions of 14-3 to UW-Parkside's Luke Rynish and 11-6 to Elmhurst College's Danny Balderas.

UW-Oshkosh also had Aaron Konitzer (Sr. • Abrams) compile a 3-2 record at 165 pounds and Jason LaPlante (Sr. • New Berlin) a 2-2 mark at 285. Konitzer had a pin in 2:40 over Cory Disbennett of the College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) and LaPlante a pin in 3:49 over Jeffrey Tyburski of the University of Chicago (Ill.).

Other UW-Oshkosh competitors were Carl DeLuca (Sr. • Wisconsin Rapids) at 133 pounds, Alex Mueller (Sr. • Jackson) at 141, Tom Dahlke (Fr. • Shiocton) at 149, Kyle McKeran (So. • Lodi) at 184 and Ryan Heath (Jr. • Merrill) at 197. DeLuca, Mueller and McKearn registered 1-2 records, while Dahlke and Heath both went 0-2.

The Titans wrestle in a dual meet at UW-Platteville on Thursday (Feb. 2).