Sophomore Shane Siefert (Mundelein, IL/Carmel) led the Warhawk wrestlers with a second place finish in the 197 pound weight class at the Luther Open in Decorah, Iowa Saturday.  There were no team scores kept in the tournament.

After an opening round bye, Siefert defeated Bryant Etherton of UW-Madison, twentieth in the NCAA I team rankings, 17-5.  In the third round he topped Cable Staub of Milwaukee School of Engineering, and followed that with a 9-6 win over Alex Coolidge of Cornell College to advance to the championship match.  In the final he was defeated 5-1 by Kris Klapprodt of the University of Iowa, fourth in the NCAA I team poll.  Siefert is ranked second in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III poll.  Siefert earned All-America honors as a freshman with a fourth place finish in the 2013 NCAA III tournament. 

Matt Adcock (Bloomingdale, IL/Lake Park) and Ryan Aprahamian (Mukwonago/Mukwonago) also placed for the Warhawks, earning fifth place at 141 and 194, respectively.  Adcock wrestled more than any other UW-W competitor, taking to the mat seven times Saturday.  He opened with a 6-0 win over Dexter Bass of Wartburg, and pinned Jeff Sand of Simpson College in 2:28 in round two.  He moved to the wrestleback bracket after a 3-1 loss to Alphonso Vruno of Minnesota State.  Adcock began his comeback with a 5-3 win over teammate Corey Meyer (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove), and added a win over Dakota Gray of host Luther, the third-ranked team in D3, by the identical score.  Like most of his teammates, Adcock came up against a Division I opponent from the University of Iowa, losing to Ethan Owens of Iowa 6-1.  Adcock ended his tournament with a payback win, defeating Vruno 3-2 for fifth place.

Aprahamian had a first round bye, which he followed with a 3-0 win over Scott VanDeLoo of Division II Minnesota State, the number ten team in the poll of NCAA Division II teams.  Like Siefert and Adcock, it was a University of Iowa wrestler that stopped his progress through the bracket, in this case a 20-5 loss to the Hawkeyes' Sam Brooks.  In the wrestleback bracket Aprahamian defeated Kevin Stahmer of Luther 13-0, then beat Gerald Roman of Wartburg 6-5 before, again, losing to Jeremy Fahler of the University of Iowa, 7-4.  Aprahamian closed his tournament action with a pin of Jayden DeVilbiss of Luther in 6:56 to in the fifth place match.

Trevor Pruett (West Bend/West Bend East), Kory Jauch (Rolling Meadows, IL/Rolling Meadows), and Mitchell Elmer (Stillwater, MN/Stillwater) all won at least two matches for the Warhawks in the tourney.

Pruett went 3-2, starting with a pin in 4:26 of Scott Smith of Cornell.  He moved to the wrestleback bracket after a 12-5 loss to Matthew Gurule of Iowa.  He began wrestlebacks with a 15-0 win over Nick Micelli of MSOE and continued with an 8-2 victory over Martino Balsinger, unattached.  His day ended with a 7-3 loss to Landon Shea of Wartburg, the number one team in the NWCA Division III poll. 

Jauch received an injury default from Emeric Williams of UW-Madison, then lost to Iowa Hawkeye Brody Grothus 9-0.  Jauch came back with a pin of Upper Iowa's Josh Tyler in 5:29.  His day ended with a 10-3 loss to Ryan Joinit of Simpson.

Elmer had a bye in the first round, then was pinned by Iowa's Mike Evans in 1:57.  Elmer came back with a pair of pins, ending a match with Xavier Lopez, unattached, in 2:31 and in 4:52 in a match with Robert Pohlman of William Penn.  Elmer's day ended with a loss by fall, in 3:21, to Brendan Eichmann of Minnesota State.

The Luther Open is really two tournaments.  There is an elite division where all the best wrestlers from each team competed, and a freshman tournament to get some of the newcomers a taste of collegiate competition.  All of the UW-W wrestlers mentioned were in the elite division.

UW-W, ranked ninth in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III poll, will host UW-Platteville at 7:00 Thursday, November 21 in Williams Center.



TF/ak