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The No. 14 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling team heads to UW-Eau Claire this Friday and Saturday for the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional Championship.
The Warhawks seek their first regional team title since 2015 and look to secure individual spots in the NCAA Championships by placing wrestlers among the top three in their respective weight classes. The team placed second and collected five individual titles at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship on Feb. 8.
The 17-team Upper Midwest Regional includes No. 2 Augsburg (Minn.), No. 24 Chicago, Concordia Wisconsin, Elmhurst (Ill.), Lakeland, MSOE, Pacific (Ore.), St. John's (Minn.), St. Olaf (Minn.), Wheaton (Ill.), UW-Eau Claire, No. 9 UW-La Crosse, No. 21 UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, No. 22 UW-Stevens Point and No. 14 UW-Whitewater.
The Warhawks placed third at last season's NCAA Upper Midwest Regional behind six top-five finishes, including five by returners.
Junior
Mike Tortorice (Wauconda, Ill./Carmel) and senior
Nicholas Bonomo (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) seek their second straight trip to the NCAA Championship at 125 and 165 pounds, respectively.
Tortorice finished third at 125 pounds last season with a 4-1 record. The 2018 All-American enters the weekend with a 25-3 record and a No. 3 national ranking by D3wrestle.com. He claimed titles at the WIAC Championship and the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational on Jan. 25-26.
Bonomo, the WIAC runner-up at 174, will drop down to 165 for this weekend's regional, the same weight class where he placed third at last year's regional. He owns a 9-4 record this season.
Like Tortorice, junior
Hazen Rice (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) also earned individual championships at Wheaton and at the WIAC Championship. He owns a 23-2 record at 141 pounds this season and is ranked sixth by D3wrestle.com. Rice finished fifth at last season's regional, competing at 133 pounds.
Other conference champions set to compete this weekend include senior
Nick Stencel (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) and junior
Riley Kauzlaric (Coal City, Ill./Coal City) at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively. Stencel (12-2) placed fourth at last year's regional. Kauzlaric owns a 24-4 mark entering the weekend and is ranked fifth by D3wrestle.com.
Other regional entries include sophomore
Blake Huffmon (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) at 133 pounds, sophomore
Mac Casella (La Grange, Ill./Lyons Township) at 149, senior
Sonny Schieldt (Edgerton, Wis./Edgerton) at 157, freshman
Jaritt Shinhoster (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Barrington) at 174 and junior
Nick Sundberg (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock) at 285.
Shinhoster is 13-3 with impressive showings at the Luther Open (Nov. 10) and through his first two bouts at the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational, where he suffered an injury during his quarterfinal match. Schieldt (12-15) finished as the runner-up at the conference tournament, while Sundberg (15-12) placed sixth at heavyweight.
Casella enters the weekend with a 12-12 record and six pins, while Huffmon is 5-13 in his first year as the starter at 133.
