Rinehart’s second place finish highlights No. 23 Pioneers busy weekend

WHEATON, Ill. – In a stacked Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling team finished 13^th of 34 teams while No. 4 junior Lucius Rinehart took home second place at 285 pounds in the two-day competion. Rinehart's only loss of the invite was to the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the nation, Drew Kasper of Otterbein University. 

The Pioneers tallied 52.5 team points to finish 13^th of 34 teams while No. 12 North Central racked up 120.5 team points to take first place at the invite. Overall, the Pioneers had three place finishers with Rinehart taking second at 285 pounds, junior Nick Dado finishing fourth at 174 pounds, and sophomore Isaac Wiegel securing eighth place at 125 pounds.

Rinehart pinned his first two opponents of the invite with wins against Owen Miller of Olivet (3:58) and Dylan Uzumecki of UW-Whitewater (4:46). In the quarterfinal, Rinehart won by a 12-0 major decision over Justin Hennessy of Nebraska Wesleyan. In order to advance to the first place match, the Pioneer defeated Grant Martin of Mount Union with a 5-4 decision. In the championship match, Rinehart faced an undefeated Kasper of Otterbein University and finished second behind the No. 1 ranked wrestler after a 4-0 decision. 

At 174 pounds, Dado won his first three matches by outscoring his opponents 28-14. Dado first defeated John Marsh of Cornell by a 10-3 decision and then Brian Shermeyer of Messiah College by a 9-4 decision. In the quarterfinal, Dado defeated Connor Homan of Mount Union by a 9-7 decision before being pinned by No. 1 ranked Jarrit Shinhoster of UW-Whitewater (1:10) in the semifinal. Dado bounced back in the consolation semifinal with a 5-2 decision over Haydn Kinjorski of Olivet and advanced to the third-place match where the Pioneer fell to Evan Lawrence of UW-Eau Claire (1:51).  

At 125 pounds, Wiegel won his first two matches with a 7-0 decision over Camden Spears of Ohio Northern and a 5-3 sudden victory win over Byron Fleming of Buena Vista University. Wiegel suffered a narrow 5-4 decision to Sean Redington of Messiah in the quarterfinal and then defeated Rosendo Beltran of Defiance College in another close match with a 3-2 decision. Wiegel was forced to take a medical forfeit in the next two matches which finished the Pioneer in eighth place. 

Other Pioneers that competed at the Wheaton invite include:

133 pounds – Luke Pradel – 5.0 team points

149 pounds – Garrett Ruckdashel – 1.0 team points

157 pounds – Alexander Strueder – 3.0 team points

184 pounds – Jacob Sklenar – 2.5 team points

197 pounds – Brett Schoenherr – 2.0 team points

Closer to home, another group of Pioneers headed across the river to the Loras College Open on Saturday, Feb. 1 in Dubuque, Iowa. 

At the Loras Open, freshman Coy Ruess captured third place at 157 pounds when the day finished with a medical forfeit by Todd Perry of Ellsworth.

 Coy Ruess at Loras Open (Photo provided by Mark Johnson of Loras College)

Sophomore Caleb Radtke finished in sixth place at 133 pounds after a narrow 5-4 decision in the fifth place match. 

The Pioneers will return to action when they close out regular WIAC competition with Throwdown in the Theatre against UW-Oshkosh on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in the UW-Platteville Center for the Arts.