A national championship is like the Super Bowl. It is great to get there, but upon advancing to that stage athletes want to win it.

That’s probably what the No. 6 Warhawks were feeling going into the NCAA Championship in La Crosse over the weekend.

“It’s a measurable improvement this year,” head coach Tim Fader said. “Having won the conference for the first time in forever and then having a guy in the national finals for the first time since 1991, there have been some good steps taken this year for sure.”
The ’Hawks finished eighth at nationals, the highest position in school history, but still fell short of expectations, according to freshman Grant Sutter. Wartburg College won the championship for the second straight year.
After getting six first round wins, the ’Hawks looked to keep the momentum going the rest of the weekend.
Juniors Sutter, Jake Frederickson and Cade Sarbacker, as well as seniors Corey Anderson, Adam Latella and David Dwyer all won their first round matches.
“It was a very up-down tournament for us, but we had a good start” Fader said. “We had six matches on that Friday morning and all six of our guys were impressive.”
Even with a few losses, the ’Hawks scored 35.5 points and were in eighth place going into the final round on Saturday.
“A couple of our draws were really tough matches in the quarters,” Fader said. “That was a rough round on us because three of our wrestlers lost and then our medical trainers didn’t allow David Dwyer to wrestle anymore.”
Dwyer had a cut on his eye and a possible concussion and had to withdraw him from the tournament.
Sutter beat third seeded Jimmy Gotto of Coe College, 5-4 in the second round. In the semi-final round Sutter lost 4-3 against the eventual 125-pound champion, Kenneth Anderson of Wartburg.
Sutter beat Nathaniel Giorgio of the Coast Guard Academy in the consolation finals, 1-0, to take third place. His season record was 14-1.
Anderson came into the tournament as the fourth seed, and beat Matthew Mahon from Ithaca College 9-3 in the first round. In the second round he beat the fifth seeded Ryan Frank of Wartburg College 5-3.
Anderson moved into a tie for seventh in UW-Whitewater history with 38 wins on the season. Anderson beat George Saliba from York College of Pennsylvania 10-3 to advance to the finals against Augsburg’s Chad Johnson. Anderson lost 6-1 and finished in second place.
Frederickson lost to Joe Mileski of UW-Stevens Point in the second round by the same score that the two had in the WIAC Tournament, 5-2.
Sarbacker finished his season with a 9-3 loss to Mike Wiley of Plymouth State College in the consolation bracket.
Latella lost to Reid Mosquera of Johns Hopkins, 12-9 in the 197 pound consolation bracket and finished the season with a 16-4 record.

Coach Fader wins National Coach of the Year

The National Wrestling Coaching Association announced Saturday that Warhawks’ head coach Tim Fader was named the Division-III National Coach of the Year. Fader is in his eighth year at UW-Whitewater.
“It was very unexpected,” Fader said. “You know you typically look at a team like Wartburg who had five guys in the finals and had an amazing team this year.”
Fader led the ’Hawks to a 21-7 record and the team’s first WIAC Championship since 1991. Fader was named NWCA Division-III Coach of the Year in 2001. He  was also elected to serve as president of NWCA Division-III starting in 2010.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Fader said. “It was very humbling.”