Junior Davey Starks avenged a loss from the first meet of the season in Stevens Point to notch one of two Blugold first-place finishes and help the team finish sixth in the 10-team Cornell Matman Invitational which ended Saturday.
At 125 pounds, the top-seeded Starks beat second-seeded Jeremy Hendricks of Central College (IA), 7-6, in the championship match.
Starks held on to his one-point lead as he rode his opponent for the final 26 seconds of the match to claim the victory.
Starks paved the road to the championship match with a win via technical fall and a 13-3 decision in his first two matches.
Junior Adam Kolo won the other individual title for the Blugolds.
Kolo, the No. 1 seed at 197 pounds, topped his sophomore teammate Nick Campbell 3-0 in the championship match.
Kolo found his way to the title match after pinning his first two opponents.
“I kind of knew there wouldn’t be the top people on my side of the weight class,” Kolo said. “I just went out and tried to get my pin and give the team some more points.”
The unseeded Campbell beat seventh-seeded Mark Koch of St. John’s, second-seeded Bart George of Simpson College (Calif.) and third-seeded Roy Forsyth of UW-Platteville to earn his berth opposite Kolo.
“Nick wrestled really well,” coach Don Parker said. “To come in unseeded and knock off some seeded guys, that’s a real feat.”
The ‘Golds had three other placewinners on the mat as junior Chris Muller finished fourth at 157, senior Travis Buchholz was fourth at 165 and sophomore Josh Frie was fifth at 174. Ten Blugold wrestlers won at least two matches in the invitational.
Coe College won four individual titles and captured the team championship with 140.5 points. Central College finished second with 102 points, edging Simpson which had 101 and UW-Platteville which had 100.5.
Wartburg was fifth with 78 followed by the Blugolds at 66.5, Cornell at 53, St. John’s at 52, Dubuque at 29.5 and St. Olaf at 29.5.
Parker said there are a number of wrestlers on his team that are bumped and bruised, but said the team continues to look forward.
“We got a ways to go in conditioning, but we’ve been working them all pretty good.” Parker said.
Saturday’s home match against UW-Oshkosh will be the first of four home meets that will close out the regular season for the Blugolds before the WIAC championships take place in River Falls.
“(Oshkosh) has some scrappy kids,” Parker said. “Five or six of those kids were in their lineup last year. So we’ll have to be ready.”
