By Kali Schmieding

Nov. 16, 2015

The No. 11 ranked Whitewater wrestling team kicked off its 2015-16 season last Thursday against Division I UW-Madison.

The ’Hawks were defeated 43-0 in four matches.

“It was a little rough in terms of the scoreboard,” head coach Ned Shuck said. “The guys really fought hard, but just position wise, we got beat up a little bit and we learned a lot from that.”

At 141 pounds, senior Matt Adcock was tied 2-2 in the second period, but was defeated in overtime.

At 174 pounds, sophomore Connor Price was also tied 2-2 in the second period, but was defeated after a reversal in the same period.

Senior Tom Gerszewski and freshman Brandon Arteaga were also defeated by decision.

“Guys were putting points on the board,” Gerszewski said. “I think we did a really good job as a team, but we definitely have areas to build. I don’t think anyone has seen our team at its full strength yet.”

The ’Hawks continued the competition on Saturday at the Luther Open in Decorah, Iowa.

“It was a really good performance,” Shuck said. “We had a couple champs, a couple guys in second, and two of our guys in the finals for the same weight class.”

Adcock and sophomore Isaiah Vela were champions in their respective weights.

At 149 pounds, Vela had four pins including three in under one minute on Cornell’s Trevor Engle. Engle is ranked No. 1 in the nation by D3wrestle.com, and third by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Vela defeated Engle in the semifinal.

In the championship match, Vela defeated Mark Pinero of Wartburg in 29 seconds. Pinero is ranked ninth by the NWCA.

“Our 149 pounder was probably the highlight of the tournament,” Shuck said. “He ended up pinning two highly ranked opponents, one being the number one ranked guy in the country so that was really good.”

In his first three matches Adcock posted a pair of major decisions. He then drew consecutive medial forfeits from Drew Van Anrooy or Luther and sophomore Maxx Hubbard.

At 174 pounds, sophomore placed fourth, and freshman Nicholas Bonomo placed fifth. Sophomore Logan Hanselmann finished fourth at 125 pounds. Gerszewski finished sixth at 165 pounds.

“I was happy with how I wrestled,” Gerszewski said. “I guess I gotta get back to the practice room and get stronger and get better technique. There are areas of improvement. Effort was there, but I got things to work on.”

The ’Hawks will continue the season Saturday at Olivet (Mich.) Comet Duals.

“This will be the week where we combine the badger dual and the Luther open tournament to kinda determine what we need to do and work towards to get ready for this next weekend,” Shuck said.