UW-Whitewater wrestlers won six of the nine weight classes they entered, and six of ten in the tournament, at the East Coast Holiday Classic hosted by Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island Saturday.  UW-W champions included Grant Sutter (Dodgeville/Dodgeville) at 133 pounds, Jake Fredrickson at 141, Elroy Perkin (Greenfield/Whitnall) at 149, Willie Anaya (Downers Grove, IL/Downers Grove) at 165, Shane Seifert at 197, and Anthony Edgren (New Lisbon/New Lisbon) in the 285 weight class.  There were no team scores kept for the tournament.

final brackets

Schools participating, in addition to UW-W and host JWU, included Niagara Community College, Middlesex Community College, Baldwin Wallace College, Rhode Island College, and Norwich University.

Sutter, ranked third in Division III at 133 in the D3wrestle.com ratings, drew a bye as the number one seed.  He pinned Jacob Landers of Baldwin Wallace College in 1:44 in the semifinal, then pinned Zach Walker of Baldwin Wallace in 4:41 to earn the title and raise his record to 11-1.

Fredrickson, ranked seventh by D3wrestle.com, won four matches for his crown at 141.  He opened with a 1:31 pin of Elijah Villapiano of Middlesex Community College, and followed with a major decision, 16-4, over Damen Patisaul of Rhode Island College.  He beat teammate Matt Adcock (Bloomingdale, IL/Lake Park) 3-1 in a semifinal, and then topped another Warhawk, Garrett Whitehead 3-0 in the finale.  Fredrickson is 18-4.  Fredrickson, Whitehead and Adcock went 1-2-3 in the weight class.

Perkin, another top seed, drew a first round bye.  He then earned a technical fall, 17-2, over Dan Franco of Johnson and Wales, and finished with a 12-2 major decision over Joey Gaccione of Johnson and Wales to up his season mark to 19-7.

Anaya, the fifth seed, surprised a few people.  He beat number four seed Tyler Bruce of Niagara Community College 5-3, then upset top seed Frankie Marotti of Johnson and Wales 4-2 in a semifinal.  His 3-1 win over the second seed, Kris Schimek of Niagara captured the 165 pound title.  Anaya had lost the only two bouts, 0-2, he had wrestled before heading to Providence.

Seifert blew through his competition at 197 pounds, living up to his number one seed.  After a bye in round one Seifert pinned Kevin Thomas of Baldwin Wallace in 1:29, and needed just one second more, 1:30, to defeat Kyle Humphries of Rhode Island College in a semifinal.  Seifert wrapped up his title with a 15-0 technical fall over second seeded Blake McNulty of Johnson and Wales.  Seifert is 14-4.

Edgren, like Fredrickson, had to go four matches for his title.  The second seed, he opened with a 2:49 pin of Wesley King of Baldwin Wallace.   In round two he won by fall again, this time in 2:06 over Alex Lawrence of Norwich University.  He followed up with an 8-1 win over third seed Brian Nichol of Rhode Island College, and then needed just 1:27 to pin beat number one seed Humphrey Swift of Johnson and Wales for the 285 championship to bring his season mark to 13-1.

In one of the weight classes a UW-W wrestler did not win, 157, Kegan Arthur (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey) put together a 4-1 record in the tourney to earn third place.  The Warhawks' 174-pounders went one better, with Ryan Aprahamian (Mukwonago/Mukwonago) and Adam Zeh (Lombard, IL/Glenbard East) earning second and third place, respectively.  Andrew Pettit (Hoffman Estates, IL/Hoffman Estates) went 3-1 at 184 pounds to earn third place in his bracket.

Johnson and Wales distinguished its tournament by including a community service opportunity, helping areas hurt by Superstorm Sandy, and a special New England dinner following the competition.

UW-Whitewater is ranked eleventh in the D3wrestle.com poll.  The Warhawks' next action will be January 4 at UW-Oshkosh.  The first home match of the season will be January 25 at 7:00 with UW-Eau Claire visiting Williams Center for UW-W's annual Alumni Night.