Thompson earns All-America honors, three Pioneers compete at NCAA DIII Wrestling Championship

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Zach Thompson became the 22^nd wrestler to earn NCAA DIII All-America honors for the University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling team over Friday and Saturday's NCAA Championship held in the Alliant Energy Powerhouse. Thompson (133 lbs) finished 7th and was joined at the national meet by teammates Isaac Wiegel (125 lbs) and Tyler Hannah (197 lbs). 

Of the three Pioneers wrestling at the meet, Thompson started out his journey with the longest road ahead as he had to wrestle in the preliminary round first on Friday to even enter the 133 pound bracket. The Pioneer defeated Luis Hernandez of Ithica by a 10-3 decision to earn that place in the bracket, but knowing he'd be up against the no. 2 seeded Dalton Rohrbaugh of York College. The favored wrestler won by a 12-2 major decision, but Thompson did not let the loss wilt the determination. The Pioneer battled and held on Friday night to defeat Zach Levey of Brockport by a 3-2 decision in the Consolation Round 1. With one win separating the junior from Saturday's wrestling and a place on the podium, Thompson took to the mat and defeated Luke Kowalski of Gettysburg College by a 14-3 major decision earning All-America honors and a place in Saturday's wrestling. Thompson dropped a tight 4-3 decision to David Massey of Mount Union in the semifinal early Saturday morning. Matched up against Joe Pins of Wartburg College, Thompson's final appearance on the championship mat ended on a highnote as the Pioneer tallied a near fall in the 3rd period to snap a 2-2 tie after the first two frames in route to winning the 7th Place bout by a 9-3 decision. Thompson finished his first year with the Pioneers 19-9. .

Hannah (24-12) entered the championship as the no. 8 seed in the 197-pound bracket, but two losses in overtime kept the Pioneer just short of the podium. A 3-1 defeat in overtime to Travis Arata of Roger Williams University sent the Pioneer to the consolation side of the bracket early on Friday. Hannah bounced back in the next match and defeated Josh Harkless of Rochester Intitute of Technology by a 3-1 decision, but another overtime loss, this time 4-2 in the Consolation Round 2 to Bently Schwanebeck-Ostermann of Augsburg University brought the freshman's impressive season to a close. 

Making his first career appearance at Nationals, Wiegel started the day wrestling the no. 2 seed in the 125-pound bracket and dropped a 14-4 major decision to Samuel Braswell of Averett University. The Pioneer finished out the season in the next round   and fell by an 11-6 decision to Derek Steele of Augsburg. Wiegel concluded the season 22-8 overall.