After a drought of 20 years, the ninth ranked UW-Whitewater wrestling team finally won the WIAC title.
The season isn’t quite over though. The Warhawks will travel to La Crosse March 9 to compete in the NCAA Championships.
On Sunday, the ’Hawks outscored UW-La Crosse 108.5-96, who had previously won the last 14 conference championships.
UW-Stevens Point finished third with 70.5 points, followed by UW-Oshkosh with 66, UW-Eau Claire with 14, and UW-Platteville with nine points.
The ’Hawks also had five first place finishes out of eight wrestlers: 125-pound freshman Grant Sutter, 149-pound junior Cade Sarbacker, 184-pound senior David Dwyer, 197-pound senior Adam Latella and senior heavyweight Corey Anderson.
“It was ecstatic to have seven guys in the finals,” Anderson said. “That’s a big thing for any team.”
The ’Hawks finished with two wrestlers in second place, two in third place, and one fourth place.
Dwyer won a pivotal match in overtime with a takedown to win the bout 3-1 in the 184-pound bracket.
“It’s not the way I wanted it to go,” Dwyer said. “I just didn’t want it to be so close and down to the last minute.”
Dwyer won by defeating Sam Engelland from UW-Oshkosh for the second time this season, handing him only his third loss overall. With the win, Dwyer improved his season record to 23-7.
Dwyer said he was excited with the improvements the team has made this year and is happy with the steps the team has taken.
“It feels good to be part of change in a positive direction, hopefully Whitewater just keeps going in the same direction,” Dwyer said.
One reason the ’Hawks improved was because of Anderson. He took first place in the heavyweight bracket by winning two matches in major decisions, 14-5 and 8-0.
“It feels excellent,” Anderson said. “I knew after the first couple of matches when the team came together, and I called it this year in the wrestling room that we were going to win the conference title.”
Anderson said he was speechless when trying to put the win into words how he felt becoming a part of the 2012 conference title team after transferring to UW-Whitewater from Newberry College.
“Being a captain of the team [after] transferring in the way they accepted me and now being part of something that’s a part of history is just unbelievable,” Anderson said.
Anderson finished the season at 35-3 and is the third ranked heavyweight in Division-III and felt like he was going out on top.
“It’s like retiring at a mansion in Paris somewhere it’s just great.”
