UW-L Leads After First Day of Wheaton Invite; Six Wrestlers Advance in Championship Round

For Immediate Release: Friday, Jan. 30, 2009

Wheaton, Ill. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team leads after the first day of competition at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational Friday night. The Eagles have 83.5 team points and advanced six of their 10 wrestlers into Saturday's championship round. North Central College (Ill.) is second with 74.5 points followed by UW-Parkside (71.0); UW-Whitewater (65.5) and John Carroll University, Ohio (45.5). A total of 31 teams scored points Friday.

Six UW-L wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals Friday. Bebeto Yewah, the fifth-seed at 133-pounds, went 2-0 Friday. After receiving a first round bye, he won by decision (12-5) over Rob Frias of Lakeland College (Wis.) and by fall (5:37) over fourth-seed Edel Vaca of Knox College (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. The Eagles' Matt Mauseth, the tournament's second seed at 149, advanced to Saturday's semifinals with three victories. He won by major decision (15-5) over David Lopez of the University of Indianapolis (Ind.) in his opening match; defeated Dave Harris of College of Mt. St. Joseph (Ohio) by decision (10-9) in his next match and by major decision (18-6) over seventh-seed Mike Bressler of Messiah College (Pa.).

UW-L's Mike Schmitz (174-pounds), Josh Zabel (184), Andy Moore (197) and Dan Laurent (285) also advanced to Saturday's semifinals. Schmitz, the fourth-seed, won by decision (8-7) over Greg Rhoads of Wabash College (Ind.); by decision (9-3) over Justin Tomal of Wheaton College (Ill.) and by decision (8-5) over fifth-seed Luke Rynish of UW-Parkside. Zabel is the third-seed at 184-pounds and also went 3-0 on the day with two wins by fall. He defeated Danny Dunn of Muskingum College (Ohio) by fall (5:23) in his first match, won by fall (4:58) over Matt Alexander of Ohio Northern University in his next match before winning by decision (10-5) over sixth-seed Toby Boltz of Wheaton (Ill.) in the quarterfinals.

Moore opened the tournament with a win by major decision (17-4) over Timmy Hopkins of Messiah (Pa.) before earning a victory by fall (5:41) over Alex Faulkner of Knox (Ill.). The second-seeded Moore advanced to the semifinals with a win by fall (2:50) over seventh-seeded Alex Fleet of Trine University (Ind.). Laurent is the fourth seed and went 2-0 Friday after getting a first round bye. He defeated Derrick Hesson of Mt. Union College (Ohio) by fall (1:44) in his opening match and then defeated fifth-seed Loyde Braidlow of Truman State University (Mo.) by major decision (10-0) in the quarterfinals.

The Eagles' Alex Dahl at 141-pounds and Jake Gosch at 165 will both compete in the consolation round Saturday after both went 2-1 in opening day action. Dahl, seeded eighth, defeated Alex Maus of Truman State (Mo.) by decision (3-1) and Joe Spooner of Ohio Northern by fall (2:37) before a loss by decision (4-1) to top-seeded Austin Bautista of UW-Whitewater in the quarterfinals. The unseeded Gosch opened with a win by decision (7-1) over Kyle Long of Trine (Ind.) and by decision (3-1) over fourth-seeded David Jones of Messiah (Pa.). He lost by fall (1:29) in the quarterfinals to fifth-seed Tyler Goble of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.).

Albie McKinney and Ryan Farwell both finished 2-2 in Friday's action. At 125-pounds, McKinnney opened with a win by major decision (11-2) over Collin Dennis of Mt. Union (Ohio) before falling to sixth-seeded Jim Schoettle of the University of Chicago (Ill.) by decision (7-3). McKinney then won by fall (3:45) over Caleb Cardenas of Wheaton (Ill.) in the consolation round before being eliminated by Jimmy Nicholas of Indianapolis (Ind.) by decision (5-4). Farwell opened with a loss by fall (1:36) to fifth-seed Isaac Dukes of Case University (Ohio) before winning by medical forfeit over Eddie Stefonek of UW-Parkside and by decision (4-3) over Bryan Massong of Mt. St. Joseph (Ohio). Farwell was eliminated with a loss by major decision (11-3) to Bryan Massong of Mt. St. Joseph (Mich.).

For complete results, click here.

Action concludes Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invite.