Pioneers are 3rd of 12 teams

The UW-Platteville wrestling team used a balanced effort to place third out of 12 teams in a closely contested Milwaukee School of Engineering Invitational Saturday.

Central won the team title with 131.5 points, nipping runner-up Millikin (123.5) and the Pioneers (120.5). Fellow Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh finished fourth and seventh, respectively.

The Pioneers won matches in almost every weight class for Coach Mike DeRoehn's club, led by champions D'Andre Johnson and Grant Wedepohl.

Johnson won his first three decisions at 285 pounds to reach the championship match, then won a thriller over Millikin's Myron Hamilton. Johnson won the tie-breaker to bring home the title.

Wedepohl continued his hot start to the season, winning four matches at 184. He won two of the three early-round matches by technical fall, then beat Oshkosh's Colton Cashmore 4-2 in the gold-medal matchup.

Scott Arneson won three matches, two by technical fall, to reach the 133-pound title match. He fell to Central's Cameran Timok and finished in second place. Isaac Bronsinski had a similar strong showing at 165, winning his first three matchups before losing to Central's Jeremy Vester in the championship.

Placing third were Nick Donovan at 125, Chase Katzenmeyer at 133 and Cody Meyer at 197, while Michael Belanger was fourth at 165, Isaac Roffers fifth at 157 and Trevor Harsh sixth at 149.

The Pioneers have two home matches before the semester break, playing host to UW-Stevens Point Thursday at 7 p.m. and UW-Eau Claire Saturday at 1 p.m.