Drees Leads Pioneers to Fifth-Place Finish at WIAC Championships

The host University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling team finished fifth at the 2011 WIAC Wrestling Championships on Sunday at Williams Fieldhouse.

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team earned its 14th straight conference title on the strength of seven individual champions. UW-L head coach Dave Malecek was selected the Mertz Mortorelli WIAC Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season.

Mack Drees, who entered the tourney as the No. 4 seed, bounced back from a semifinal loss to eventual champion Lloyd McKinney of UW-La Crosse to post a 6-2 win his consolation finals match against Joe Mileski of UW-Stevens Point.

Next, he posted a 3-2 victory over Carl Deluca in the true second-place matchup. The effort earned Drees a spot at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Mar. 11-13 at the University of UW-La Crosse.

Drees was the UW-Platteville representative on the WIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.

Allen Fish had three matches decided by one point on the day, including a quarterfinals loss by the score of 3-2 to Jordan Kust of UW-Stevens Point. He bounced back to win his next two matches, including a 5-4 decision over Zach Mueller of UW-Oshkosh and a rematch with Kust in the consolation finals by a score of 3-2 to finish third.

Unseeded Brett Phillips came back from a loss in the quarterfinals to Kyle Kleuskens of UW-Oshkosh. He went on to post a pin in the consolation semifinals in 4:04 over No. 3 seeded Shane Sweeney of UW-Stevens Point. In his third place match, he avenged the earlier loss to Kleuskens with a 6-3 win. Next, he ended the day with a loss to No. 2 seed Dylan Scroeder of UW-Whitewater in a true second-place bout.

The Pioneers’ Ryan Borman and Matt Scott each finished fourth at 141 and 197, respectively.