The Pioneer wrestling team kept up its winning ways by crushing local rival Loras College in a dual on Feb. 1 in Dubuque, Iowa. The Pioneers proved to be too much for the then 18th-ranked Duhawks cruising to a 23-12 dual meet win.

The Pioneers were able to put forth an impressive team effort winning six of the 10 matches during the dual. UW-Platteville’s middle weight wrestlers again wrestled tough as the team swept four straight matches to erase a 6-0 deficit and turn it into a 17-6 lead.

The Pioneers started off the action with close matches at 125 and 133 pounds respectively with close losses by Andrew Skog who was out-pointed 4-3 by Mark Beatty and Spencer Peterson who lost 6-4 to give the Pioneers a 6-0 deficit to begin the dual.

After that, Vinny Alber seized momentum back with a lightning-quick pin of Loras’ 141 pounder Scott Frank, to tie the score at 6-6. Following him at 149 pounds was junior Ryan Higgins who scored a major decision with a 15-6 drubbing of Chris Bishop.

The following match was the evening’s most anticipated match up between two top ranked wrestlers, Jesse Milks of UW-P ranked 5th in the country against sixth-ranked Erik Hanson.

In a see-saw battle that saw both wrestlers struggle to take control, Milks scored a late takedown to score three points for the Pioneers and more importantly a huge personal win against a talented opponent.

“It was my third time facing him this season and this was our closest match yet,” Milks said. “I wrestled his match for most of it and this match proved I need to keep working hard.”

Following him was Carsten Carlsen at 165 pounds who powered his way to a 10-0 major decision to run the score to 17-6. Carlsen who very nearly scored a pin right before time expired ran his season record to 17-8 on the season.

Loras got back into the dual with back-to-back wins by Brandon Bauer over UW-P’s Corey Zuberbier and then the Pioneers Brad Zellner was edged by the Duhawks Jay Figgins by a score of 4-1.

With the dual score only at 17-12, UW-P used its resolve to pull out big victories in the next two matches. Senior at 197 pounds, Mike Jackowski clinched the team victory for the Pioneers with a 4-1 decision over Alex Grafft. Freshman heavyweight Cody Weber wrestled well to pull out a 4-0 victory over Jeremy Klein to finish the dual.

Head coach Chris Walter was very happy with the team’s performance during the dual. “The team as a whole got after it. Our guys wrestled hard even in our losses.”

“I was really pumped to see us beat Loras,” Carlsen said. “It showed us that when we all wrestle well we can be one of the top teams in the nation. I’m glad to see us all start to pull it together this late in the season.”

“For the first time all year we had great performances from all 10 guys, we wrestled a complete dual,” Walter said. “I was really happy with Spencer Peterson and Andy Skog who both wrestled tough.”

“Loras was a big step for us,” Milks said, “It was the first time all season that everyone wrestled well and it helped us win.”

The victory was sweet for the Pioneers who appear to be hitting their stride at the right time of the year. They have had great success since a dual loss against UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 8, the team finished third at the North Central Invite and followed it up by winning the Spartan Invite. The team has also improved in dual meets, winning consecutive duals against Lawrence University and Loras to push their season record back to 5-5.

The team has the weekend off as they prepare for their final dual of the season, against WIAC rival UW-Whitewater on Feb. 15 in Whitewater.

“We are going to work hard this week and work on situations that will help us against Whitewater,” Walter said. “In order to win we’re going to need to pull some upsets against a team that is ranked tenth in the country and beat some people that on paper we aren’t supposed to beat.”

After that dual the Pioneers will enter postseason competition where they will travel to Appleton for the WIAC Championships hosted by Lawrence and two weeks later those that qualify will head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Divison III National Championships.

“Conference is just around the corner, and that’s where we need to wrestle our best,” Carlsen said. “We have been getting better week by week.”