8 Pioneers place at MSOE Invite, team finishes sixth

Written by: Colten Bartholomew, UW-Platteville Sports Information

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Eight Pioneer wrestlers placed in the top six of their brackets, and the squad finished sixth of 12 teams at the MSOE Invitational Saturday.

Sophomore Cole Ferguson led the way for the Pioneers, taking third place in the 125-pound bracket. Ferguson began his day with a dominant 17-3 major decision over Lakeland's Matt Damp, before falling 9-4 to Concordia's Sean Ambrocio in the semifinal. Ferguson responded by pinning Wheaton's Tom Foy in the second period to reach the third-place match, where he beat Central's Abe Fernandez 8-2.

Fellow sophomore Mason Bohm continued his successful 2013 campaign with a fourth place finish at 133. Bohm defeated Lakeland's Eduardo Orihuela 15-3 in his first match, then dropped a close decision to Concordia's Marcus Lubner in the semifinal, 11-8. Bohm then had another tough-luck loss in the third-place match, falling 8-5 to UW-Oshkosh's Craig Mason.

Jose Collado, another sophomore, took sixth at 141 pounds, picking up an 11-7 win over Lakeland's Jacob Schmidt, before getting pinned by the eventual champion, Knox's Esai Ponce. Collado lost a close match, 6-4, to end up in the fifth-place match.

After falling in his first round match 8-0, freshman Aaric Spencer took fifth in the 157-pound bracket by picking up three wins, including two first-round pins, in the consolation bracket. In the fifth-place match, Spencer made quick work of St. Olaf's Adam Woitalla, pinning him at the 1:34 mark of the first round.

Junior Trent Larson earned four wins on his way to a fifth-place finish at 165. Larson pinned Hannibal La-Grange's Jacob Kaibel in the third period of his second-round match, before losing in the next round. Larson rebounded by winning 7-0 over St. Olaf's Seth Barkosky and then earned an 11-2 majority decision over Central's Dillon Anderson. Larson won his fifth-place match in tight fashion, defeating MSOE's second-seeded Peter Kootstra 8-6.

Seniors Nathan Schmitz and Devin Johnson finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 184-pound bracket. Schmitz defeated UW-Oshkosh's Korey Kleinhans in the first round and Johnson, who recently returned to action after an injury, scored a majority decision, 9-0, over Lakeland's Jared Schaaf in his first-round match. Both wrestlers lost close matches in the quarterfinals, Schmitz 3-1 and Johnson 7-6.

The pair picked up two wins each the consolation bracket, including a pin apiece, before Schmitz edged Johnson 7-4 in the fifth-place match.

After losing in the third period of his second-round match, freshman Kyle Andreae won three matches in the consolation bracket to earn fifth at heavyweight. Andreae scored two pins on the day, including a third-period pin in the fifth-place match over Hannibal La-Grange's Robert Simons.

The Pioneers return to the mat for a conference duel at UW-La Crosse on Wednesday.