Ferguson and Cole lead Pioneers at Chuck Porter Open

GALESBURG, Ill. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling team posted six place winners in the Pioneers' season opener at the Chuck Porter Open, hosted by Knox College.

Junior Cole Ferguson and sophomore Michael Cole each placed in third.

Ferguson won his first three matches at 125 pounds before falling to Dubuque's Joey Cisneros, 7-5, in the semifinals. He defeated Loras' Dayton Olson in the wrestleback semifinals and then secured third-place with a 3-1 decision over Augustana's Jimmy Panozzo.

Cole fell in the first round, 5-4, to Lindenwood's Zach Hausman at 184 pounds, but came back with a vengeance in the wrestleback round, tallying a pair of pins. He then took home third-place by pinning Deric Ginther from Graceland.

Josh Cannon at 197, Gunnar Melstrand at 157 pounds and Cody Meyer at 174 pounds all finished in fourth-place.

 Freshman Cannon fell in the semifinals, but earned a pin the wrestleback semifinals to advance to the third-place match. He dropped the third-place match to NCAA Division II Truman State's Helmut Rentschler.

Melstrand dropped his first match of the day but came back to win four straight matches. He beat two seeded wrestlers to make it to the third-place match, and then fell to second-seed Augustana's Hector Ruiz to finish in fourth.

Freshman Meyer won his first two collegiate matches, before falling to Loras's Joe Butler in the semifinals. Meyer narrowly beat Central's Zach Moss, 8-7, in the wrestleback semifinals, and then fell to third-seed Jeramiah Reed, 6-2, to place in fourth.

The Pioneers final place winner was Chase Wiggins, who pinned Augustana's Brian Egan to claim fifth-place.

UW-Platteville begins the home portion of the schedule on Friday, Nov. 14, when they host UW-La Crosse at 7 p.m.