UW-L Captures Wheaton Invite; Chelf Named Outstanding Wrestler

Eagles Finish Fourth at UW-Eau Claire Invite; Seppelt Wins Title

For Immediate Release: Saturday, February 2, 2008

Wheaton, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team captured the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational Saturday afternoon at Wheaton College. The Eagles finished with 143.0 team points while UW-Parkside was second with 105.0 and Elmhurst (Ill.) third with 103.5. A total of 27 teams competed.

UW-L's Josh Chelf, who went 5-0 in the invite, was named the George Olson Outstanding Wrestler Award after capturing the 174-pound title. He also earned the Jack Swartz's Most Falls/Least Time Award finishing with three falls in a time of 4:50.

Chelf opened the invite with a win by fall (2:23) over Steve Bagnowski of John Carroll. He then earned a win by fall (:43) over Rob Schoner of UW-Whitewater and won his third straight match by fall in the quarterfinals over David Jones of Messiah (1:44). Chelf defeated Corey Van Groll of UW-Parkside in the semifinals (7-2) and Kyle Vanderhyde of Olivet in the championship match (6-5).

Tim Palmer also won an individual title for the Eagles Saturday with a record of 5-0 at 165-pounds. He won by major decision (20-7) over Devon Jurczak of John Carroll in his opening match before a win by fall (2:36) over Vince Vitatoe of Truman State. Palmer then earned another win by fall (2:15) over AJ Coleman of Ohio Northern in the quarterfinals and defeated Trent Zempel of Messiah by decision (6-5) in the semifinals. Palmer captured the title with an overtime win (3-1) over Kyle Becker of UW-Parkside.

The Eagles also had three second-place finishers Saturday. Jay Milz placed second at 157-pounds with a 3-1 record, Josh Zabel was second at 184-pounds with a 4-1 record while Andy Moore finished second at 197-pounds with a 3-1 mark.

Dan Laurent finished fourth at 285-pounds for UW-L with a 3-2 record while Matt Mauseth was sixth at 149-pounds and Kevin Barber eighth at 141. Mauseth went 2-3 and Barber 3-3.

UW-L's Brandon Music finished 2-2 at 125-pounds.

The Eagles also sent a team to the UW-Eau Claire Invitational Saturday and UW-L placed fourth out of nine teams. The Eagles finished with 92.5 team points while St. John’s (Minn.) was first with 120.5. UW-Stevens Point placed second (113.0) and Augsburg (Minn.) third (99.5).

Eric Seppelt captured the 149-pound title with a 4-0 record. He opened the invitational with a win by decision (5-3) over Roger Anderson of St. John’s before a win by major decision (11-1) over John Dangles of UW-Oshkosh. Seppelt then won by decision (9-5) over Kyle Mueller of UW-Stevens Point in the semifinals and earned the 149-pound crown with a technical fall victory (15-0) over Andrew Johnston of UW-Eau Claire.

The Eagles’ Pat Parrillo (125-pounds) and Tim Winker (197) both finished second Saturday. Parrillo and Winker were both 2-1. Zeb Secrist (149) and Zach Strickland (197) each placed third for UW-L. Secrist was 2-1 while Strickland finished 5-1.

Three wrestlers placed fourth for UW-L. Jeff Erkel (165), Brendan Faust (184) and Hakan Binek (285) each finished fourth as Erkel and Faust went 3-2 and Binek 4-2.

In other results, Ryan Farwell went 3-2 at 149-pounds; Jake Lewis finished 2-2, Patrick Taylor 0-2 and Brad Masche 1-2 at 157-pounds; Bryant Rouzer went 2-2 at 165-pounds and Dan Schulte was 1-2 at 174-pounds.

UW-L returns to action Friday, February 8 hosting UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m.