Warhawk 149-pounder
Jake Burford (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) registered a pair of wins Saturday to claim the title at the Pete Willson Invitational hosted by Wheaton College. The Warhawks tied for seventh in the 32-team field.
Burford defeated Chicago's Ryan Fleck by 9-3 decision to punch his ticket to the championship bout. For the title, he took down league foe Zach Sato of UW-Eau Claire by 3-2 decision. Burford was a perfect 5-0 on the weekend.
Ryan Vedner (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) opened Saturday in the semifinals at 165 where he fell to Ohio Northern's Jordan Hardrick in the third sudden victory period. Dropping to the consolation semis, Vedner lost another nail-biter falling to Brandon Peckham of UW-Stevens Point in sudden victory once again. He finished fifth after his opponent in the final bout of the day medically forfeited.
Dakarai Clay (Madison, Wis./Madison East) had a busy day Saturday to capture fifth place at 141 pounds. After four bouts Friday, Clay was back on the mat for four more Saturday working his way through the consolation bracket. He opened the day with back-to-back pins, a fall in 4:11 over Art Martinez of Case Western Reserve and a fall in 6:02 over UWEC's Jake Matthews. He dropped the consolation semifinal to North Central's Bradley Rosen by 4-2 decision, but ended the weekend on a high note with a 7-2 decision over Millikin's Jordan Carson to finish fifth.
At 285 pounds,
Shelby Jones (Dodgeville, Wis./Dodgeville) posted a pair of decisions to advance to consolation semifinal. He defeated MSOE's Noah Nieberle by 3-1 decision and John Carroll's Thomas Blackwell by 3-0 decision in his first two bouts. Jones took Ka'Ron Lewis of Ozarks to sudden victory but fell by 4-3 decision. Jones wrapped up the tournament with a 3-1 decision over Daniel Skold of Augustana College to secure fifth place.
Tyler Klein (Hartford, Wis./Hartford Union), 125 pounds, was also in action Saturday. He fell to Roanoke's Mac Cafurello by 10-4 decision in his lone bout of day two of the tournament.
FRIDAY RECAP
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling team currently stands 10
th in the 32-team field at the Pete Willson Invitational hosted by Wheaton College.
Jake Burford (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) and
Ryan Vedner (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) advanced to the semifinals at 149 and 165 pounds respectively heading in the first day of the tournament.
Jake Burford (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) set the tone early registering a fall in just 1:39 over Wheaton's Cale Coppess. He followed with a 10-3 decision over Nathan Leko of Otterbein before punching his ticket to the semifinals with a 6-4 decision over Cael Vanderhorst of Ohio Northern.
Vedner opened his day with a 5-4 decision over Cortland State's Jaden Datz. He racked up points for an 8-0 major decision over Trysten Zahoransky of John Carroll and topped Olivet's Kameron Bush by 7-5 decision in the quarterfinal.
Tyler Klein (Hartford, Wis./Hartford Union) advanced to the quarterfinal at 125 pounds after receiving an opening round bye and topping John Carroll's Eddie Wallace 3-1. He dropped to the consolation bracket following a 4-1 decision to Zac Blasioli of Millikin.
At 141 pounds,
Dakarai Clay (Madison, Wis./Madison East) will continue to work his way through the consolation bracket Saturday. Clay opened Friday with an 11-3 major decision over Nebraska Wesleyan's Christian Keller before falling to UW-Eau Claire's Jake Matthews. He added a pair of wins in the consolation bracket Friday afternoon.
Kade DeSormeau (Milton, Wis./Milton) ended Friday with two of the closest bouts of the day. After falling to Jared Stricker of UWEC in the first round at 174 pounds, DeSormeau defeated Garret Bruce (Buena Vista) in sudden victory, 5-3. His final bout of the day also went into sudden victory but had a different result as DeSormeau fell to North Central's Casey Aikman 12-10.
At 184 pounds,
Tyler Haydon (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) went 0-2 while
Jakub Maciorowski (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard West) went 1-2 at 197. Maciorowski added a tally to his pin column on the season with a fall in just 35 seconds over Dylan Messer of Augustana.
Shelby Jones (Dodgeville, Wis./Dodgeville) picked up a pair of wins to open the day with an 8-3 decision over Roanoke's Joshua Mancia and a 5-0 win over Blake Daniels of Adrian. He dropped his quarterfinal bout to Cole Fibranz of Chicago by 3-2 decision.
At 133 pounds,
Dominik Mallinder (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) won his first two bouts but had to medically forfeit his next two rounds. Wade Hodges pinned his first opponent at 157 pounds in less than a minute before having to withdraw in his second bout due to injury. He was unable to return to the mat for his third bout of the day.
