Feb. 15, 2017

The 10th ranked UW-Whitewater wrestling team earned a second place finish at the WIAC championships meet Feb. 10 in Platteville.  The Warhawks finished with 108 team points behind only fifth-ranked UW-La Crosse’s 160 team points.

“It was really disappointing,” head coach Ned Shuck said. “Overall we felt like we underperformed”

The runner-up finish snapped the Warhawks five year streak as conference champions, but the team continued its eight year run of finishing in the top two in the WIAC.

“We came out slow,” freshman Devin Tortorice said. “We weren’t aggressive enough.”

Seniors Zach Denny, Joseph Brodman and junior Jordan Newman all won individual WIAC titles.

Denny (125lbs.) won his first two matches via pin and an 11-4 decision en route to the championship match. In the championship match Denny won a 7-2 decision over Zachary Sirny of UW-Eau Claire to win the WIAC championship at 125 lbs.

Brodman (133 lbs.) earned two major decision victories with scores of 12-4 and 10-0 in his first two matches to advance to the championship match.  Brodman won the championship match over UW-La Crosse’s Ryan Weinmann with a 10-6 decision to win the WIAC championship at 133 lbs. 

Newman (184 lbs.) earned two fall victories in his first two matches of the day to advance to the championship match.  In the championship match he defeated UW-Platteville’s Grant Wedepohl via a 10-2 major decision to win the WIAC championship at 184 lbs.

“[We’re] a little disappointed,” Tortorice said.  “If we stick to what we’re good at we are one of the best teams in the nation no doubt.”

Other wrestlers who placed at the meet include junior Austin Quartullo (157 lbs.), sophomore Nickolas Bonomo (174 lbs.) and freshmen Mike Tortorice (125 lbs.), Devin Tortorice (141 lbs.) and Hazen Rice (133 lbs.).

Quartullo won three out of his four matches with all results coming via decision or major decision. He beat UW-La Crosse’s Michael Murnane in the third place match to finish third in the 157-pound weight class.

Bonomo finished the day with a 3-2 record overall with wins by technical fall, decision and fall.  He was defeated in the third place match and finished fourth at 174 pounds.

Mike Tortorice went 3-1 on the day with two wins by major decision and one by technical fall.  He defeated Anthony Senthavisouk of UW-Oshkosh in the third place match in the 125-pound weight class.

Devin Tortorice finished up his day with a 4-1 record overall that included wins by technical fall, decision and fall as well as an injury default.  He won a 7-1 decision over UW-La Crosse’s Hayden Schlough in the third place match to end up with a third place finish at 141 lbs.

Rice finished the day with a 2-2 record with wins coming via decision and major decision.  He defeated Michael Bannach of UW-Stevens Point in the fifth place match to finish fifth in the 133-pound division.

Freshmen John Broughton (157 lbs.), Mike Kouvelis (165 lbs.), Riley Kauzlaric (197 lbs.), Ryder Sigler (165 lbs.), Austin Parks (197 lbs.) and sophomores Jordan Festge (285 lbs.) and Christian Dischler (174 lbs.) also won matches at the tournament.

“We always like our team,” coach Shuck said. “We are expecting to qualify a lot of guys for the national tournament”

The wrestling team returns to action at the Midwest Regional Championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana on February 25th.