UW-L Finishes Sixth at Dick Walker Invite; Three Wrestlers Compete at Husky Open

For Immediate Release: Saturday, December 8, 2007

La Crosse, Wis. - The UW-La Crosse wrestling team competed at two meets Saturday. The Eagles placed sixth at the Dick Walker Invite at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa and also competed at the Husky Open at St. Cloud (Minn.) State University. No team scores were recorded at the Husky Open.

At the Dick Walker Invite, two Eagles came away with individual titles. Dan Schulte captured the 174-pound division while Andy Moore took the 197-pound title. Schulte went 4-0 Saturday. He opened with a win by fall (3:00) over unattached wrestler Seth Rehn in his first match. Schulte, seeded fifth in the tournament, then defeated fourth-seed Kyle Kehrli of Cornell College (3-0) before winning by major decision (15-7) over the number one-seed, Coe College's Tyler Jentz in the semifinals. Schulte defeated Dustin Jaeger of Wartburg College, the third-seed, 3-0 in the championship match.

Moore also went 4-0 to capture the 197-pound division. He was the number two-seed and opened with a win by fall (3:40) over unattached wrestler Phillips Hanes before a 8-2 win over seventh-seed Josh Pastor of Cornell. Moore beat Wartburg's Nick Shandri in the semifinals before defeating teammate Zach Strickland 3-2 in the championship match.

Strickland, who was unseeded, advanced to the championship match with three straight wins to start the tournament. He opened with a 7-1 victory over eighth-seed Danny Manley of Augsburg College. Strickland then beat Rob Kramer of Coe 5-1 in the quarterfinals and fifth-seed Joe Johnson of Iowa Central by major decision, 9-1, in the semifinals before the loss to Moore.

UW-L's Brenden Faust placed fourth at 184-pounds with a 3-2 record. Other results included: Brandon Music going 2-2 at 125; Ryan Farwell 1-2 at 149 and Cory Ferguson 3-2 at 157.

Three wrestlers competed at the Husky Open. Nate Willaert placed fifth at 157-pounds with a 5-2 record for the Eagles while Zeb Secrist went 1-2 at 149 and Jeff Erkel 2-2 at 165.

Willaert opened with a major decision win (14-0) over unattached Joel Hill. He then won 4-1 over Michael Ourada of Rochester Community College before falling in overtime to unattached Joe Grygelko in the next round. Willaert came back to win by major decision (13-0) over Logan McAlpin and 9-2 over Jon Ames of UW-Eau Claire. He lost by fall (1:51) to Eddie Stefonek of UW-Platteville in the next match, but placed fifth with a major decision win (15-4) over Matt Baarson of St. John's University.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, December 12 at UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.