WHEATON, Ill. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestling team finished in fourth place at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invite on Saturday, led by James Huntley's (Jr. – Woodbury, MN/Stillwater) second place finish and Evan Lawrence (Jr. - Hugo, MN/Mahtomedi) earning the Jack Schwartz Award for the most falls in the least amount of time.
The Blugolds finished the invite with 97 points while North Central (IL) won with 120.5 points.
Competing at 197 pounds, Huntley defeated Cash Thompson of Ohio Northern by fall (6:57) in the semifinal before falling in the championship match to North Central's Ben Bergen by a 7-2 decision.
Lawrence, who recorded three pins on Friday, tallied two more on Saturday on his way to a third place finish at 174. Lawrence fell by a 19-2 major decision to Cornell Beachem (Mount St. Joseph) before pinning Conner Homan of Mount Union (1:35) and Platteville's Nick Dado (1:51) in the third place match.
In addition, Jake Drexler (So. - Stratford) placed fifth at 149 after going 1-2 on the day. Drexler fell in the semifinal (Dec 11-5) and in the consolation semifinal (MD 15-6), but bounced back in the fifth place match, defeating Noah Nieman of Adrian with an 11-9 decision.
At 165, Chase Schmidt (Jr. – Rice Lake) also placed fifth, finishing the day 2-1. In his first bout of the day, the junior won a sudden victory -1 over Nic Jarvis of Cornell College (SV-1 7-5). After falling in his next match by fall, Schmidt won by major decision over Derick Duvall (Adrian), 10-0, in the fifth place match.
Noah Carter (So. -Rochester, MN/Mayo) won his first match of the day, tallying a 4-0 decision over Dylan Uzumecki (Whitewater) at 285. The sophomore dropped his final two bouts by decision, 4-1 and 1-0, respectively.
The Blugolds will be back at the McPhee Center this week as they host Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday, Feb. 7th before hosting the Don Parker Open on Saturday, Feb. 8th.
