Reid Dickerson (Indianapolis, IN/North Central) finished third at 174 pounds to lead the UW-Whitewater wrestling team at the Blugold Invitational in Eau Claire, Wisconsin Saturday.  UW-Whitewater finished fifth in the fifteen team field. 

Augsburg College won the tournament, with UW-Parkside second and Saint John's (MN) third.  Augsburg is ranked third in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III poll, Saint John's is sixth, UW-Stevens Point twelfth, UW-Whitewater twenty-first, Wartburg number one, and UW-La Crosse is second.  To be fair, UW-W did not enter its normal lineup in every weight class, in fact not entering anyone in three weight classes, and some of the nationally ranked teams were obviously doing the same type of thing with their lineups.  As an example, Wartburg only entered six wrestlers in the tourney, while Augsburg entered twenty-three.  UW-Parkside is ranked fifth in Division II, was the only scholarship team in the tournament.  final team scores were not available as of this writing ... please click on the tournament results link

tournament results

Dickerson opened the tourney with a major decision, 11-2, over Scott Gifford of UW-La Crosse.  He then lost to number one seed Luke Rynish of Division II UW-Parkside 18-8.  After a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket, Dickerson pinned Jared Groth of Luther College in 3:21.   In the fourth round of the consolation bracket Dickerson beat Ben McPhail, an unattached wrestler, 12-8, to set up a match he sees in the wrestling room all week.  Dickerson met up with teammate TJ Decker (Pewaukee/Pewaukee), the seventh seed, prevailing 7-3 to advance.  Dickerson moved on to the third place match when his opponent in the sixth round of consolation, Ben Scott of Wartburg, defaulted with an injury.  In his sixth match of the day, the most he will ever have to endure in collegiate competition, Dickerson found the strength to pin Andrew Dilworth of UW-Stevens Point in 1:21 of the third place match.  Dickerson's, the number seventeen seed in his weight class, went 5-1 in the tournament to improve his season record to 23-18.

Other Warhawks contributing major points to the team total were Dylan Schroeder (Mineral Point/Mineral Point), who went 3-2 at 141, Aaron Smith (Mio, MI/Mio AuSable), 4-2 at 149, Alex Cizek (Naperville, IL/Nequa Valley), 3-2 at 157, and the afore mentioned Decker, 3-2 at 174 pounds. 

UW-W, 11-10-1 in dual meets, will travel to UW-Platteville Thursday, February 17 for a 7:00 match against the Pioneers, the final match before the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Sunday, February 27 at UW-Platteville.

For additional information:  Tim Fader, UW-W coach