Pioneers take down Blugolds

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling team (3-1, 2-1 WIAC) defeated UW-Eau Claire (6-2, 2-2 WIAC) 24-20 Tuesday night in Williams Fieldhouse. After trailing 20-12, the Pioneers won the final three bouts of the match and secured the conference victory when the outcome of the night came down to the final two wrestlers at 285 pounds.

The Pioneers were first on the scoreboard in the night's dual with sophomore Isaac Wiegel defeating Jack Marley by 14-11 decision at 125 pounds. The Blugolds turned up the heat and stacked up two back-to-back major decisions and a fall at 149 pounds to take a 14-3 lead going into the 157 pounds bout.

Sophomore Alexander Strueder narrowed UW-Eau Claire's advantage with a 3-1 decision at 157 pounds and the Blugolds lead weakened to 14-6.

Next up at 165 pounds, freshman Nathan Wynsma and a thrilling pinfall at 2:29 over Alfred Daniel was just the moment needed to shift the momentum.

After the dual, head coach Mike DeRoehn said, "Nathan Wynsma stepped up huge and got a fall for us right when we were way behind and needed a spark. I went to Nate and said, 'Pins are good man' and he just smiled and went after it, so I'm proud of him stepping it up and being that spark that the team needed to turn the momentum of the match around for us."

The Pioneers had narrowed the Blugolds' lead to 14-12, but a UW-Eau Claire pin at 174 pounds extended the visitor's lead to 20-12.

Sophomore Jacob Sklenar stepped onto the mat at 184 pounds and won a hard fought 3-2 decision over Chase Melton, a wrestler Sklenar had lost to four weeks prior at the MSOE Invite.

Trailing 20-15 with two bouts remaining, junior Max Schmitz stepped up to the 197 pounds match against James Huntly, a Blugold that had defeated Schmitz by a major decision at the MSOE Invite. This time, Schmitz pinned Huntly in 2:28 to give the Pioneers a 21-20 lead going into the final match.

With the decision of the dual resting in the hands of junior Lucius Rinehart at 285 pounds, coach DeRoehn said, "Once Max got that pin to make the team score come down to the last match, my stress level came way down because Lucius has been in that situation many times. It's not just in wrestling, but it's just a heavyweight thing. With him being one of our high performers, we tend to call him "The Closer" so once he went out there, you have to give credit to the wrestler who gave him a great match, but Lucius stayed calm, kept his composer, and closed it out for us."

Rinehart defeated Blaze Beltran by 7-1 decision to give the Pioneers the comeback for a 24-20 win.

The Pioneers and Blugolds also wrestled 13 JV matches on Tuesday night.

The Pioneers who recorded victories in the JV portion of the night included:

• Sophomore Caleb Radtke over Erik Gerovak at 125 pounds (Fall 2:28)
• Junior Omar Otero over Zachary Kelsey  at 149 pounds (Fall: 2:29)
• Sophomore Adam Beine over Adam Rients at 157 pounds (Dec. 11-6)
• Sophomore Devan VandenBush over Wesley Girardi at 165 pounds (TF 15-0 3:53)
• Freshman Brett Schoenherr over Corwin Deetz at 197 pounds (Dec. 6-2)

For full results of both the varsity and JV matches, click here.

The Pioneers return to action Saturday, Jan. 11 when they travel to the Central College Invite in Pella, Iowa.