Titans Earn Victory Over Blugolds

UW-Oshkosh captured its first conference victory of the season with a 26-16 wrestling win over UW-Eau Claire on Friday (Jan. 11) in Kolf Sports Center.

The Titans (3-4, 1-2 WIAC) owned six of the 10 individual winners, including Nazar Kulchytskyy (Jr. • Sosnivka, Ukraine) who pinned Alex Kleinschmidt in 1:40 at 174 pounds. It was the 11th pin of the year for Kulchytskyy.

UW-Oshkosh trailed 9-6 before Mason McMullen (Jr. • Milwaukee) and Tom Dahlke (So. • Shiocton) posted consecutive wins for the Titans at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively. McMullen defeated Steve Fischer, 10-2, while Dahlke ousted Brandon Stradel, 9-2.

UW-Eau Claire (1-11, 0-4 WIAC) then tied the score at 13 with Matt Koch's 16-3 win over Ben Frieler (Fr. • Eldorado) at 157 pounds.

The deadlock didn't last long as Kulchyskyy pinned Kleinschmidt and Jay Howarth (So. • Coleman) shut out 184-pounder Jacob Hoffstatter, 9-0, in the next two bouts to give the Titans a 23-13 lead.

In the final match of the night, UW-Oshkosh's Brandon Clapper (So. • Plainfield) notched an 8-4 win over Luke Ortscheid at 285 pounds.

The Blugolds started fast with Zachary Sirny's 5-3 victory over Parker Peterson (Jr. • Eden) at 125 pounds. After giving a forfeit to UW-Oshkosh's David Rosenau (Sr. • Van Dyne) at 133 pounds, Nathaniel Behnke then pinned the 141-pound Justin Schinebeck (Sr. • Butternut) in 5:10 to give UW-Eau Claire a 9-6 lead.

At 197 pounds, UW-Eau Claire's Mat Rieckhoff defeated Korey Kleinhans (So. • Oconomowoc), 9-3.

UW-Oshkosh travels to Mequon on Saturday (Jan. 12) for matches against host Concordia University Wisconsin and nationally ranked St. John's University (Minn.).