Related Links:
2016 WIAC Wrestling Championship Web Page
D3wrestle.com
Assistant Coach Ben Peterson Feature on "Road to Gold"
 
The No. 13 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling team will begin postseason competition Sunday at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship, which begins at 9 a.m. at UW-Stevens Point.
 
The Warhawks finished tied atop the WIAC regular season standings with a 4-1 dual mark. The team finished 11-5 overall and won five of its last six.
 
UW-Whitewater highlighted its season on Jan. 29-30, winning the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational for the third straight year behind seven top-five individual finishes. The Warhawks finished ahead of Division II UW-Parkside and two teams ranked among the top five in Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association – No. 4 Messiah (Pa.) and fifth-ranked UW-La Crosse.
 
UW-Whitewater has claimed each of the last four conference titles. The team edged out UW-La Crosse last season thanks to five individual champions.
 
Senior Tom Gerszewski (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) is the defending champion at 157 pounds, and looks to have the same success this season at 165. Ranked ninth by the NWCA and sixth by D3wrestle.com, Gerszewski enters the weekend with a team-best 33 wins, including 19 straight between Nov. 21 and Jan. 29.
 
Senior Matt Adcock (Bloomingdale, Ill./Lake Park) and sophomore Isaiah Vela (West Chicago, Ill./St. Charles East) also enter the WIAC Championship ranked among the nation's best.
 
Adcock, who is seventh according to the NWCA and sixth in the D3wrestle.com rankings, owns a 25-10 record at 141 pounds this season and was third in the same weight class at last year's conference meet. The two-time All-American won the Luther (Iowa) Open on Nov. 14.
 
At 149 pounds, Vela placed third a season ago and enters Sunday's meet with a 24-5 mark. He claimed the individual title at the Luther Open and leads the team with 12 pins. Vela is ranked 10th by both the NWCA and D3wrestle.com.
 
Junior Joseph Brodman (Tiffin, Ohio/Calvert), sophomore Connor Price (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) and freshman Nicholas Bonomo (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) are each listed under the Contender section of the D3wrestle.com rankings.
 
Brodman enters the postseason with a 23-11 record at 133 pounds. He finished as the runner-up at the Wisconsin Open on Dec. 5.
 
At 174 pounds, Price is second on the team in victories with a 30-13 record, and was the runner-up at the Concordia (Wis.) Open on Nov. 21. He placed second at 165 pounds at last year's WIAC Championship.
 
Bonomo is 25-7 with 10 pins, good for second on the team, at 184 pounds. He is tied for the team lead in technical falls (5) with Gerszewski.
 
Other starters for the Warhawks include junior Zac Denny (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem), freshmen Brandon Arteaga (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich), Bowen Wileman (Milton, Wis./Milton) and Jordan Festge (Madison, Wis./Madison East).
 
Denny was a first team All-WIAC honoree in 2014 and placed fourth at 125 pounds in 2015. He has an 11-8 record.
 
Arteaga, listed in the Honorable Mention category of the D3wrestle.com rankings at 157 pounds, is 20-11. Wileman is 9-20 at 197, while Festge is 7-17 at 285.
 
Each WIAC team is permitted two entries into each weight class. Only the highest finisher in each weight class will factor into team scoring.