UW-Eau Claire wrestling team jam-packed weekend
The Blugolds host all weekend long for wrestling dual and tournament
Photo by Zach Jacobson
The wrestling team’s season began right at the beginning of November and will continue until Regionals and Nationals in February and March.
The UW-Eau Claire wrestling team hosted a meet for the Chancellor’s Cup this weekend as well as an Eight-Man-Battle tournament in McPhee Physical Education Center.
The wrestling team invited UW-Oshkosh to Eau Claire at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17 in the McPhee Center. The meet was a rematch to win the Chancellor’s Cup after Oshkosh won it in the same meet last year.
According to the recap page on the Blugold athletics website, the duel ended with Eau Claire winning 37-6 over the Oshkosh Titans.
The results page on the athletics website detailed the dual, illustrating each wrestler’s breakdown going from lowest weight class to the highest.
The first match of the dual led to Carter Schultz in the 125 weight class. He lost to Luc Valdez 6-0. This match was followed by Tyler Fleetwood in the 133 weight class, winning a sudden victory 6-4.
The match after these saw Jake Matthews in 141 class winning by a technical fall, 17-0. Zach Sato followed this in the 149 weight class, also winning by a technical fall, 15-0.
Colton Sund, a second-year student, is a wrestler on the team starting in the 157 weight class. He said the Blugolds are always scoring and looking for points.
“I think we are the next trophy team and I think we got a lot more than people think we do,” Sund said, “Should put on a good show for the rest of the year and years to come.”
Sund continued the dual on Thursday winning 8-4 by decision. Tristan Massie followed up in the 165 weight class with a win by a fall at 2:25.
Jared Stricker in the 174 class defeated Will Dixon in a decision 7-4. This was followed up by Niall Schoenfelder in the 184 class won in a fall at 2:24.
This streak by the Blugolds was ended when Sam Melton in the 197 class lost in a decision 9-3. Chase Melton in the 285 weight class ended the night, winning by a forfeit from the Oshkosh Titans.
This Thursday’s duel ended with the Blugolds possessing the Chancellor’s Cup. The team returned at 10 a.m. on Saturday to McPhee for an Eight-Man-Battle.
According to the recap on the UW-Eau Claire athletics page, the team ended the tournament with a total of 165.5 points for the team. The Blugolds won first place at the tournament with 11 wrestlers placing in their weight classes.
The NCAA website documents the tournament results and rankings. The 125 weight class saw Shultz earning second place and Ryan Goddard earning sixth. The 133 weight class saw Fleetwood earning first place overall.
The 141 weight class ended with Matthews earning third for Eau Claire and Andrew Kested taking fourth. The 149 weight class saw Sato earning first and Markus Brown fourth. The 157 weight class saw Jan Hernandez-Soto in second and Sund in third overall.
Continuing into the tournament, the 165 weight class ended with Massie in first place and Jonathon Harvey in second. The 174 weight class saw Stricker in first place and Wesley Girardi in fifth.
The 184 weight class ended with Schoenfelder in first overall, Hank Gierke in fourth and Carter Melton in fifth. The 197 weight class finished with Chase Melton in first and Sam Melton in fourth. The 285 weight class was the only level a Blugold wrestler did not place.
For the flights of the tournament, Ty Peterson won first place for the 141 flight. The 149 flight saw Luke Krier in first and Victor Perez Mesa in second. The 165 flight ended with Terry Smith in first place and William Krueger in second overall.
For the final flights and matches of the day, the 174 flight finalized with Preston Carlisle in first place, Krueger in second place and Smith in third. The 197 flight saw Marcus Hankins in first place.
Tim Fader, the head coach for the wrestling team, is fond of the athletes on the team. Noting that he is proud of the student athletes on the team acting as good teammates and good representatives of UW-Eau Claire.
“Sometimes on campus, you’ll hear that a lot of people don’t know we have a wrestling team or they’re not familiar with the sport,” Fader said. “I think it’s an entertaining sport if you give it a chance and I think people would find that out if they gave it a look.”
According to the Blugold Athletics page, the Blugold wrestling team will have their next meet at 3 p.m. on Nov. 23 in Si Melby Hall, Augsburg University. You can follow the wrestling team’s progress at the Blugolds Athletic page.
Fisher can be reached at [email protected].
Cade Fisher is a third-year communications and creative writing student. This is his fourth semester at The Spectator and his second as news editor. In his free time, he enjoys rollerblading, reading and being anxious about anything that comes his way.
