NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestling team competed at the Spartan Mat Classic wrestling tournament at the Stauffer-Wolfe Arena on Saturday, with the Blugolds taking second out of 19 teams.
Eau Claire tallied 163.5 points on the day while Wabash won the tournament with 189 points.
Tyler Fleetwood (So. – Fulton, IL/Wartburg), Jared Stricker (Fr. – Ashland, WI) and Chase Melton (So. – Spooner, WI) led Eau Claire with a first-place finishes at 133, 174 and 184 pounds, respectively. The Blugolds would also have three runner-ups along with two fifth-place finishes and one taking sixth.
In his first matchup against Josh Gibson of Heidelberg at 133, Fleetwood won by fall (2:13). He would earn another pin in his next bout against Devan Johnson of Cornerstone, this time at 3:48. Facing Blake McGee (Wabash) in his third match, Fleetwood recorded a 4-2 win by decision. In the championship against Dylan Le (Ohio Northern), Fleetwood dominated for a 14-0 major decision to earn a spot at the top of the podium.
Stricker took the title at 174 after earning three pins on the day, the first against Jason Minchew of Huntingdon (1:39), the second over Jacob Graden of Wabash (0:32) and third over Josh Kenny of Muskegon in the championship (5:34). In his other two bouts, Stricker had a no contest and a 7-4 decision.
Melton took the top spot at 184 after earning three wins by decision and one by major decision. After two byes, Melton defeated Indiana Tech's Luke Smith 5-2 and then downed Baldwin Wallace's Aidan Cardaman 5-3. A 13-4 MD over Tucker Coffman (Wabash) set up a championship bout with fellow Blugold Niall Schoenfelder (Fr. – Anticoh, IL) with Melton claiming a 5-4 decision.
Schoenfelder made his way to the title match with two falls, one over Decontay Moore of Manchester (1:45) and the other over Drake Kendrex of West Liberty (4:17). His other victory was a 10-3 decision over Nick Brandt of Indiana Tech.
The Blugolds also had to place finishers at 165, with Chase Schmidt claiming second and Reid Lawrence (Hugo, MN/Mahtomedi) finishing fifth.
After two byes, Schmidt tallied a tech fall (16-1 1:43) over Hayden Caskey (Ancilla) and followed that up with a pin at 3:46 over Jaret Lowry (Ohio Wesleyan). Schmidt had a 3-1 decision over Jordan Hardwick (Ohio Northern) before falling in the championship match.
Lawrence fell to the eventual champion after two byes, then rattled off three quick pins, (1:28, 1:20, 1:20) and a tech fall (16-3 5:00) to make his way into the fifth place match. In his final bout, Lawrence defeated Hunter Kupniewski (Baldwin Wallace) with a 10-7 decision.
Another runner-up finish came from Mason Hawkins (Sr. – Farmington, MN), who went 4-1 at 285. Hawkins earned pins over Xavier Stillgess of Huntingdon (1:58) and Drew Levis of Baldwin Wallace (5:31) and a tech fall (17-2 6:30) over James Lewis of Wabash. He claimed a 3-2 decision over Isaiah McWilliams (Wabash) before narrowly losing the title bout with a 2-1 decision.
Sam Melton (So. – Shell Lake, WI/Spooner) took fifth place at 197 after falling to the eventual champion in the first round. He would then record three pins (3:18, 4:04 and 3:55) and a major decision (17-5) en route to the fifth place bout where he would defeat Matt Lepper (Wabash) 8-4 for the win.
Also earning a spot on the podium was Luke Krier (Fr. - Janesville, MN) who took sixth at 141. After falling in his first match, Krier recorded a pin (1:55) and won by medical forfeit before falling in the final bout.
Next up for Eau Claire is a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup with UW-La Crosse on Saturday, January 22 at 4 PM.
Follow the Blugolds all season long at Blugold Game Day or on our app, UWEC Blugolds.
