The UW-Whitewater wrestling team fell to UW-Eau Claire 26-14 in Kachel Gym Wednesday night.
The dual opened at 125 pounds with
Jalen Dunson (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) picking up the decision over UWEC's Izzy Balsiger, 9-7.
Dominik Mallinder (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park), ranked fourth according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, gave UWW an 8-0 lead in the match with a technical fall at 133. Mallinder topped Travis Moelter 18-3 stopping the clock in 6:08 with the bonus point victory.
Justin Fortugno (Armonk, N.Y./Byram Hills) made it three straight wins for UW-Whitewater with an 8-4 decision over Drew Kested at 141 pounds.
Fifth-ranked Zach Sato got the Blugolds on the board with a 21-2 technical fall (6:56) over
Jalin Conner (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech) at 149 pounds.
Luke Swan (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) responded for the Warhawks with a 10-8 decision over Colton Sund in the 157-pound bout. Halfway through, UWW held a 14-5 lead in the dual.
At 165 pounds, Blugold Preston Carlisle registered a 19-0 technical fall (5:45) over
Aden Byal (Chatham, Ill./Glenwood). The next two bouts featured the top ranked wrestlers in their weight classes - both from UW-Eau Claire. Jared Stricker defeated
Brayden Peet (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) 7-1 at 174 while Niall Schoenfelder won by major decision over
Gavin Kohel (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) at 184 pounds.
Ian Pepple won by fall (5:35) over Whitewater's
Evan Danowski (Waterford, Wis./Waterford Union) at 197. In the final bout of the evening, UWEC's Sloan Welch tallied a 6-3 decision over
Isaak Smith (Rockton, Ill./Hononegah) for the 26-14 final.
The Warhawks return to action Saturday at the CUW Open in Mequon.
