Trevor Pruett (West Bend/West Bend East) and Jake Fredricksen (Woodstock, IL/Woodstock) earned fourth place finishes to lead the UW-Whitewater wrestling team in the Luther Open in Decorah, Iowa Saturday.  There were no team scores kept in the meet.

Pruett opened with a pin of Nicholas Olsen of the UW-Madison wrestling club in 0:26.  Pruett moved to the consolation bracket after a 6-3 loss to Chris Paulus of Upper Iowa.  Pruett beat Nick Scheffert, unattached, 13-2 in the first round on the back side of the bracket, and followed with a 9-3 decision over Dakota Boesch of Wartburg, and a 6-2 win over Sean Ambrocio of Concordia-Wisconsin.  Pruett lost a rematch with Paulus in the third place match, 13-8.

Fredricksen started the same way Pruett did, with a pin.  Fredricksen ended his match with T.J. Houdek of North Iowa Area Community College in 3:52.  Fredrickson was then pinned by Duane Richardson of Upper Iowa in 6:59, moving him to the consolation side.  Fredricksen decisioned Steven Gutschenritter of Buena Vista 3-1, then beat Brian Travis of Dubuque 7-3, and advanced to the consolation final with a 5-2 win over Matt Paulus of Upper Iowa.  Matching up with Richardson for the second time, Fredricksen fell to the Upper Iowa wrestler 5-1 in the third place match.

In addition to the main tournament featuring what Luther termed "elite" athletes, the host school also conducted a tourney for freshmen.  UW-Whitewater had five freshman place in their weight class.  Josh Regazzi took second at 184, Mark McDonnell (Morrison, Ill/) third at 157, Tom Gerszewski (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South) third at 149, Garrett Whitehead fourth at 141, and Ronnie Hauser fourth at 133 pounds.

UW-W will split its squad for competition next Saturday.  A group will compete in the Olivet (MI) Duals, and another will participate in a tournament hosted by Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin.  The next home appearance by Warhawk wrestling will be January 25 at 7:00, with UW-Eau Claire visiting Williams Center.

TF/lf