ROANOKE, Va. (blugolds.com) — Jared Stricker (So. – Ashland, Wis.) finished as a national runner-up and Tyler Fleetwood (Jr. – Fulton, Ill.) placed third for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships on Saturday. Stricker became the second national runner-up in program history, and Fleetwood added his name to the group of six third-place finishers from UW-Eau Claire.
Stricker reached the national championship match at 174 pounds by winning his semifinal early on Saturday. He took on second-seeded Zane Mulder of Wartburg in the finals, where he fell by 7-5 decision.
The sophomore got out to an early 2-1 lead after a first-period takedown, and extended the advantage to 3-1 with an escape early in the second. Mulder countered with a takedown of his own to tie the match at 3 before Stricker pulled a reversal to get back in front 4-3. Mulder answered with an escape and another takedown in the late stages of the second period and led 6-5 entering the final period. He added an escape early in the third to make it a 7-5 advantage and held on to the finish.
Stricker is only the third wrestler in Blugold history to reach a national championship match, and became the first to do it in 17 years. He was UW-Eau Claire's first representative in a national final since Derek Sikora in 2006.
Stricker was ready to wrestle right out of the gates on Saturday, winning his semifinal by 8-2 decision over Coe College's LJ Richardson to advance to the finals. Stricker had a takedown and a near fall in the first period and cruised to the victory.
Stricker finished the season with a 41-3 record.
Fleetwood started the day with a semifinal against top-seeded Robbie Precin of North Central. Precin got a pair of takedowns in the first period to go ahead 4-1, and although Fleetwood scored an escape in the third period, it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit. The bout ended as a 6-2 decision in Precin's favor.
Fleetwood recovered with a 9-0 major decision over Concordia-Moorhead's Ty Bisek in the consolation semifinals. A huge second period saw Fleetwood score a near fall and a reversal, and he never looked back to advance to the third-place match.
The 133-pounder clinched third place with a late rally in the third-place match. Fleetwood trailed 2-1 entering the final period, but got an escape and a takedown in the last two minutes to secure a 4-2 victory over Baldwin Wallace's Jaden Hinton. With the win, Fleetwood became the sixth wrestler in program history to take third place at nationals.
Fleetwood ended the season with a 35-6 record.
The Blugolds tallied 33 team points to finish in 11th place in the team standings.
