The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling team fell to UW-La Crosse 25-14 in a battle of top ten squads Thursday night. The Warhawks are ranked ninth in dual meets while the Eagles are third in the country according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
 
Starting the dual at 197 pounds, UWL's Ben Kawczynski, ranked fourth in the weight class, won by technical fall 18-0 in 6:04 over Evan Danowski (Waterford, Wis./Waterford Union).
 
Shelby Jones (Dodgeville, Wis./Dodgeville) had a great performance against #11 Michael Douglas at 285. After a scoreless first, the Eagle wrestler chose bottom and registered the escape nearly 30 seconds into the second period. Jones opted for the down position for the third and quickly got up and out for the escape to knot the bout 1-1. Jones won the toss and selected the down position once more for the first over time period. He got to his feet but couldn't break the hold getting to the edge of the circle three separate times in the period as Douglas thwarted his escape each time. Douglas selected the down position and was able to get to his feet and break the hold in the second overtime period for the 2-1 decision.
 
Jalen Dunson (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) followed with another narrow loss falling by 5-4 decision to UWL's Remington Bontreger at 125 pounds.
 
Dominik Mallinder (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) picked up the first win for UWW in the match. Mallinder set the tone at 133 pounds with an early takedown and then continued to force the issue recording a takedown before releasing his opponent to setup another takedown. At the final whistle, with riding time, Mallinder picked up the major decision win, 13-4, over Zachary Weiler to bring the match score to 11-4.
 
Dakarai Clay (Madison, Wis./Madison East) and Jake Burford (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) made it three consecutive wins for the Warhawks to cut the deficit to one. Clay, ranked 13^th at 141 pounds, defeated Tyler Shackle in a thriller. Coming back from an early takedown and four nearfall points in the first, Clay picked up the reversal before the end of the first period. Selecting bottom, Clay got up and out for the escape and quickly tallied a takedown. Another flurry of action late saw UWL's Shackle reversing Clay with just seconds left in the period to make it 8-5 Eagles. Clay responded with a reversal of his own and he let Shackle go and picked up another takedown with a minute to go. Shackle escaped once more but Clay was not to be outdone, he took down his opponent once more with 22 seconds on the clock to take the bout 11-10. Burford, ranked fourth at 149, also battled back from an early deficit. Trailing 4-2 to eighth-ranked Tyler Goebel, Burford fought his way to a 6-4 win to pull the Warhawks within striking distance, 11-10 in the match.
 
The Eagles came back with three straight wins to seal the match in their favor. Third-ranked Nolan Hertel won by technical fall 24-9 in 6:42 over Hunter Rudzinski (Waterford, Wis./Waterford) at 157 pounds followed by a 3-1 decision for #8 Noah Leisgang over #9 Ryan Vedner (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) at 165 and third-ranked Seth Brossard won by fall, 4:15, against Tyler Haydon (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) at 174.
 
Jaritt Shinhoster (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Barrington), ranked second at 184 pounds, wrapped up the dual with a Warhawk win. He was dominant in a 9-1 major decision over Kalyn Jahn.