Titans Have Nine Place Winners At WIAC Championship
Junior Jordan Lemcke and freshman Denis Murphy both earned third-place finishes to pace UW-Oshkosh at the 65th Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Wrestling Championship (presented by Culver's) held Friday (Feb. 14) in La Crosse.
Lemcke compiled a 3-1 tournament record, including a 4-1 victory over UW-Eau Claire's Noah Carter in the third-place bout of the 285-pound weight class. Lemcke opened the event with a 5-1 triumph over UW-Eau Claire's Blaze Beltran, an 8-3 loss to UW-Whitewater's Dylan Uzumecki and an injury default win over UW-Oshkosh's Guyon Cyprian. Lemcke also finished third at 285 pounds during last year's championship.
Murphy, competing at 125 pounds, also concluded the tournament with a 3-1 record. He captured the third-place contest with a 10-1 victory over UW-Eau Claire's Jack Marley. Murphy began competition with a 9-5 win over Marley before losing an 8-0 decision to UW-Whitewater's Mike Tortorice. Murphy rebounded from his loss to Tortorice with a 5-1 victory over UW-Oshkosh's Luc Valdez.
UW-Oshkosh's lone fourth-place finish belonged to freshman Brandon Lenczner at 149 pounds. He finished the tournament with a 2-2 record after losing his fourth-place match by a 7-0 score to UW-La Crosse's Sam Wenzel. Lenczner followed a 3-1 opening loss to UW-Eau Claire's Jake Drexler with victories of 3-2 over UW-Whitewater's Dakarai Clay and 12-7 over UW-Eau Claire's Tyler Vanderlois.
The Titans received their three fifth-place finishes from Eli Mondrella at 141 pounds, John DePersia at 184 and Colten Cashmore at 197.
Mondrella won three of his five decisions, including a medical forfeit over UW-Whitewater's Cole Walkington in their fifth-place bout. Mondrella was pinned in 4:21 by UW-Eau Claire's Tyler Demo in his first match. He then won by an injury default over UW-Platteville's Chase Katzenmeyer before pinning UW-Stevens Point's Anthony Kanable in 1:54 and being pinned by UW-Stevens Point's Zane Stubler in 6:34.
DePersia, who finished sixth at 197 pounds in 2018, posted a 13-4 win over UW-Platteville's Jacob Sklenar in their fifth-place bout. DePersia posted a 3-2 tournament record, including a 14-5 victory over UW-Whitewater's Alex Oruna in his first contest. DePersia was pinned in 43 seconds by UW-La Crosse's Sawyer Massie in his second match before pinning UW-Whitewater's Killian Jauchh in 4:00 and losing a 13-2 decision to UW-La Crosse's Reed Williams.
Cashmore achieved his fourth top-six finish at the championship after placing fifth in 2018 and sixth in 2019 at 184 pounds and fifth in 2017 at 174. He accumulated a 2-2 record at this year's tournament and secured fifth place with a 5-3 victory over UW-Whitewater's Nick Sundberg. Cashmore opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over UW-Stevens Point's Jerry Lipke before suffering setbacks of 8-2 to UW-La Crosse's Isaac Lahr and 3-1 (sudden-victory) to UW-Eau Claire's Mason Hawkins. Cashmore owns a season record of 29-12 (4 pins) and a career mark of 92-44 (15 pins).
Three Titans finished sixth as Valdez compiled a 1-3 record at 125 pounds, Muzi Sitshela a 2-3 mark at 157 and Cyprian a 1-3 profile at 285.
Valdez obtained his lone victory with a 21-3 decision over UW-Eau Claire's Erik Gerovac while Sitshela's two wins were by scores of 6-1 over UW-Oshkosh's Keagan Lazar and 10-4 over UW-Platteville's Cory Ruess. Cyprian's only triumph was an injury default over UW-La Crosse's Isaac Gust. Sitshela also was a sixth-place finisher in the 157-pound weight class at last year's championship.
UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater led all teams with four individual champions each while UW-Platteville and UW-Stevens Point had one apiece.
UW-La Crosse scored 157 points to win its fourth straight title and conference-record 19th overall. The Eagles were followed in the team standings by second-place UW-Whitewater with 129.5 points, third-place UW-Eau Claire with 105, fourth-place UW-Platteville with 84.5, fifth-place UW-Stevens Point with 79 and sixth-place UW-Oshkosh with 78.5.
UW-La Crosse entered the championship ranked 13th in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association while UW-Whitewater was 15th, UW-Platteville 22nd and UW-Eau Claire 24th.
UW-Whitewater's Tortorice was chosen as the John Peterson Wrestler of the Meet, while UW-Stevens Point's Dan Squires received the Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete Award. UW-La Crosse was named the Mertz Mortorelli Coaching Staff of the Year.
All six WIAC teams will travel to Minneapolis, Minn., for the NCAA Division III Upper Midwest Regional at Augsburg University on Feb. 28-29. The top three regional finishers in each weight class will advance to the NCAA Division III Championship on March 13-14 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.