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Five Wrestlers Reach WIAC Finals as
Pointers Place Second at Conference Meet
UW-Stevens Point had no conference champions,
but still had eight of its 10 wrestlers post top three finishes to place
second in the team standings at Sunday�s Wisconsin Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference championships in Eau Claire.
The Pointers totaled 119 points for their fourth
straight second place finish and sixth runner-up performance in the last
seven years. UW-La Crosse won its league-record ninth straight title with
159 points.
Joel Burdick, Al
Stacilauskas, and Mike Hayes earned
at-large berths to the NCAA Division III championships on March 3-4 in
Ewing, N.J. Each weight class champion advances to the meet along with
eight at-large selections.
UW-Stevens Point advanced five wrestlers to
championship matches, but came up short in each bout. Hayes reached
the title match at heavyweight for the third straight year, but suffered
his third straight loss to UW-La Crosse�s Ryan Allen in the finals with a
4-1 setback. Hayes is now 21-3 this year with all three losses to Allen
and a 0-10 career record against the two-time defending national champion.
Chris Brown made the finals at 157 pounds and
dropped a 9-2 decision to Ross Needham of UW-La Crosse. Stacilauskas
was second at 174 pounds after losing to UW-La Crosse�s Josh Chelf 6-5 in
the title match.
Jake Calhoun was third at 125 pounds, falling to
Pat Parrillo of UW-La Crosse 6-4 in the finals and then losing in a
wrestleback. Burdick had the same result at 141 pounds with a 10-4
loss to eventual Wrestler of the Meet Zach Chambers of UW-Platteville in
the finals.
Jered Kern battled back from an opening-round
loss at 133 pounds to win three straight matches before finishing third.
Kyle Mueller at 149 pounds and Mitch Szwet at 197 pounds both lost
semifinal matches and came back to win third place contests. |
