For the second straight year, the UW-Eau Claire wrestling team finished in sixth-place at the WIAC championship hosted by UW-La Crosse.  UW-Whitewater won its third straight wrestling championship.

 The Blugolds lost their opening match to UW-Oshkosh with an overall score of 31-18 and would later lose the fifth-place match with the same score to UW-Platteville.

 However, three individual Blugolds won all of the matches in their weight category.

 Sophomore Nathaniel Behnke went on to pin Oshkosh’s Joe Pelkey in 50 seconds, the second fastest pin of his career. In his match against Platteville, he followed with a 20-4 win over Mason Bohm. His record for the season increased to 33-9 overall.

 Senior Ryan Seidler went undefeated as well with a 16-0 victory against Hunter Mullock from Oshkosh and a 12-3 decision against Platteville’s Emeric Williams.

 Senior Luke Ortscheid won 1-0 against Tyler Wetenkemp (Oshkosh) and 4-2 against Bryant Etherton (Platteville).

 At the end of the day, Ortscheid received the WIAC’s Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete Award, only the second Blugold in school history to be recognized for it.

 Behnke was also named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.

 Stay tuned for more reaction in this week’s issue of The Spectator.