The UW-Eau Claire men’s wrestling team bounced back this past weekend, earning five wins and only one loss on the road in Grand Rapids, MI, after losing to first-ranked Augsburg University last month.
The wins came against Midway by a score of 46-3, Saint Ambrose by scores of 35-9 and 36-9, 38-7 against Cornerstone, and Albion 38-6, with the sole loss coming against seventh-ranked Campbellsville (KY), an NAIA school, 23-21.
The Blugolds improved to 7-3 on the season and will return to the mat at the McPhee Center this Thursday to take on UW-Whitewater.
“It’s really early in our season,” coach Tim Fader said. “We’ve wrestled a really great schedule, and we just want to continue to see our guys improve and become more competitive.”
However, as Fader says, there’s always room for improvement for facing unfamiliar squads like Campbellsville.
“It’s not someone we ever see in our division, they have guys we’re not familiar with,” Fader said. “We had some high points in the match…but we had a couple that we felt we let get away from us.”
Despite the loss, it was still a big opportunity for many of the players to stand out.
“We had guys scoring really big points all weekend, Tyler Fleetwood, Zach Sato. Jared Stricker was the outstanding wrestler of the tournament,” Fader said.
Third-year student Jared Stricker, who won Outstanding Wrestler, notched five wins and five pins on the weekend and remained determined even after the matches concluded.
“Every tournament I go into, I’m just looking to pin everyone I wrestle. So all the coaches just thought that I was the guy that did the most for their team,” Stricker said.
Looking ahead, these matchups have shown there’s always room for improvement, especially for tough upcoming matchups against UW-Whitewater and fourth-ranked UW-La Crosse.
“We could win every match, every dual, and there would always be room for improvement,” Fader said. “In our sport, you’re always trying to improve in areas you might not be as strong as you need to be in. That’s what we really focus on.”
As for the wrestlers, the trip to Grand Rapids provided many insights both individually and as a team.
“I think our fight and effort was there as a team,” said fifth-year student Fleetwood, who managed six wins during the two doubleheaders. “There were just some matches that slipped out of our hands, but that’s just something we can go back in the room and work on.”
From Stricker’s view, the unfamiliarity served as a good way to gain experience on the mat.
“I think our team wrestled pretty good, but not our best,” Stricker said. “The one dual (Campbellsville), but we wrestled hard. These are teams we don’t see much, so it was good to get those matches in.”
For the Blugolds, the match against UW-Whitewater will be the last home match of the semester, as they will not make another appearance at McPhee until Feb. 3rd, where they will host the Don Parker Open.
Teske can be reached at [email protected].
