Ben Smidt

Junior Davey Starks has claimed his last wrestling victory of the regular season and has his eyes set on what would be a third straight WIAC championship.

Starks claimed a 20-5 technical fall at 125 pounds in the Blugolds’ 22-14 loss to UW-Stevens Point in a dual wrestling meet at McPhee Saturday afternoon. The win capped off a perfect season for Starks against his conference foes and improved his overall record to 24-9.

Starks, who was named athlete of the week by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, was up 2-0 after the first period Saturday before he extended his lead.

“I was kind of in better shape than my opponent and I expected to beat him by a lot.”

Starks won the WIAC championship meet the past two years and is the unofficial No. 1 seed going into the conference championship which will be held Feb. 17 at River Falls.

Coach Don Parker said he was pleased with his team’s performance Saturday, adding that Stevens Point is ranked No. 22 in the nation for a reason.

Junior Chris Muller won his 24th match this season for the Blugolds with his 7-1 victory at 157 pounds. Muller will be backed by his 24-12 season mark heading into River Falls.

The Blugolds’ only other victories against the Pointers came from sophomores Troy Seubert at 174 pounds and Nick Campbell at heavyweight.

Campbell posted an 8-1 decision over his teammate from just a year ago in Tim Lium, who transferred to Stevens Point following last season.

Stevens Point’s Yan White, ranked No. 5 nationally, handed junior Adam Kolo only his third loss in 20 decisions this year at 197 pounds.

“I told (Adam) he had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Parker said. “Now he has a chance to look at the match on film and possibly see some things that could help him later on.”

Parker said the break before the conference championship gives his team a chance to practice two tough days early this week while he said he’ll give the team lighter practices during the latter half of the week.

“We’ll continue to run them every morning,” he said. “I think our conditioning has come around to the point where we’re all right.”