By: Jake Krier, UWEC Sports Information
DECORAH, Iowa (blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestling team picked up one of the biggest wins in program history Tuesday night, defeating consistent championship contender Luther College by a score of 20-15. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that they did so on the back-end of six duals and a tournament in a 17-day stretch.
Luther College finished last season with a third place finish at the national tournament. The last time that the Blugolds defeated the Norse in wrestling was back in 1995.
Tuesday night's win was the definition of a whole-team effort, and the Blugolds reaped the rewards of finishing off some close matches with their hands raised. None bigger than Cecil Philson's (Jr.-Thorp, WI) gritty 12-11 win at 197-pounds, the junior clinched the victory for the team. Late takedowns in the match proved Philson to be the better-conditioned wrestler, and his win put the Blugolds ahead 20-12 at the time.
Results | Cecil Philson Interview | Coach Quintana Interview
Zackary Sirny (Sr.-Wild Rose, WI) set the tone by getting two sets of four-point nearfalls in the third period of his 125-pound match to earn a 19-4 technical fall in the night's opening match. Cody Vogel (Fr.-Elkhorn, WI/East Troy) fell short by an 8-6 decision at 133-pounds. At 141-pounds, Jordan Meyer (Fr.-Evansville, WI) trailed 4-1 after the first period, but a late charge that included a match-clinching lateral drop at the edge of the mat led to his 9-7 win.
In another close match, Carter Focht (Jr.-Pine Springs, MN/Mahtomedi) hung on to a 3-2 decision to improve the team score to 11-3. Continuing the theme of the night, Connor Hanson (Jr.-Harmony, MN/Fillmore Central) delivered a close victory by relying on his riding time point to edge the competition by a score of 2-1. In the night's lone overtime match, Toby Mosley (So.-Sparta, WI) dropped a 6-5 rematch to former high school teammate and 2016 All-American, Tristan Zurfluh, who is also ranked No. 10 in the nation at 165-pounds.
At 174-pounds, Tyler Vogt (Jr.-Owatonna, MN) earned a critical win, defeating one of Luther's six national qualifiers from a year ago, Javier Reyes, by a score of 9-4. Travis Cripe (Sr.-Eden Prairie, MN) nearly survived not giving up bonus points against No. 1-ranked Justin Kreiter at 184-pounds, but Kreiter would prevail, getting the pinfall with 26 seconds to go, keeping the Norse in the match.
Following Philson's win at 197-pounds, Justin Karkula (Sr.-Oshkosh, WI/West) dropped a 5-2 decision to conclude the dual.
The Blugolds now get a bit of a much-needed break after a busy November schedule and will be back in action on December 3 at the MSOE Invitational. They'll then close out the 2016 portion of their season with a home meet against UW-Whitewater on December 8.
Follow all the action this season on Blugold Game Day.
