Feb. 1, 2017

The UW-Whitewater wrestling team’s season rolled into Wheaton, Illinois, this past weekend for the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational.  The No. 10 ranked Warhawks placed seventh out of 34 teams that competed with a final point total of 82.0.

“It was disappointing,” head coach Ned Shuck said. “We will outperform that in the future.”

Senior Zach Denny (125 lbs.) won his first three matches by fall, decision, and decision respectively to reach the semifinals before losing a decision  to the third seed Carlos Fuentez of Wheaton.  Denny closed out the meet with a fall victory and a major decision in the third place match to finish with a 5-1 record for the weekend.

“We just need to stick to what we are doing now. Our team is improving based on the national rankings and how we do in tournaments,” Denny said. “I thought we performed well as a team. We are going to keep practicing this month to get to where we want to become regionals.”

Junior Austin Quartullo (157 lbs.) also won his first three matches of the day by fall, decision, and major decision before losing a decision to top seeded Jeff Hojnacki of Messiah in the semifinals. Quartullo went on to win his next two matches by decision to finish in third place with a 5-1 record for
the weekend.

Senior Joseph Brodman (133 lbs.) advanced to the semifinals with two decision victories before losing to the third seed Ryan Weinmann of UW-La Crosse via decision. Brodman finished out the day with a 3-2 record and a victory over seventh seeded Hunter Harris or Messiah via decision by a score of 10-5.

Senior Jordan Newman (184 lbs.) and freshman Mike Kouvelis (165 lbs.) also placed at the meet. Newman won all three of his matches leading into the semifinals by fall, technical fall and major decision respectively but had to medically forfeit all his remaining matches and ended with a sixth place finish.

Kouvelis started out with two fall victories to advance to the quarterfinals before losing to the fourth seed Mitchell Fucile of Lakeland via major decision. Kouvelis went 1-1 in his next two matches in the consolation bracket before winning via technical fall to finish seventh in
his division.

“We let some people come bring their attacks to us,” coach Shuck said.  “We want to be attacking and being where
you’re best.”

Freshman Devin Tortorice (141 lbs.) posted two decision wins before losing via decision in the quarterfinals and the first seed by a 3-1 decision.

Freshman John Broughton (149 lbs.) won a decision 6-2 before falling via decision and followed by another defeat
via decision.

Sophomore Nicholas Bonomo (174 lbs.) posted two wins via decision and technical fall before losing an 8-5 decision in the quarterfinals followed by a fall loss.

Freshman Riley Kauzlaric (197 lbs.) advanced to the second round with a decision win before losing to the second seed Mikey Swider of Wheaton. Kauzlaric finished the weekend with a 2-2 record overall.

Sophomore Anthony Beck (285 lbs.) lost in the first round via a 3-0 decision and lost in the consolation bracket by 13-4
major decision.

“We all wrestled to the best of our ability. Our coach always tells us to wrestle with attitude, effort and fight, and I think we did that,” Denny said. “As a team you always want to win, but sometimes things don’t go your way. We just need to keep practicing and improving
every day.”

The Warhawk’s season continues Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. in Kenosha in a dual meet against UW-Parkside for the Sake Bottle rivalry trophy.