Two UW-Platteville wrestlers headed to the Division III National Championships in search for All-American status and national championships. The tournament, which took place March 7 and 8 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tested all that Ryan Higgins and Jesse Milks had to offer.

Photograph by Emily Yttri

Higgins - First Round

Higgins had the Pioneers first match of the day when he faced off against Jacob Naig of Wartburg College. Naig, ranked No. 1 in the country, lived up to his billing finishing off Higgins by a final score of 9-2. Higgins struggled from the outset as Naig was able to score early on a deep double leg shot that put Higgins to his back and Naig was able to ride out the rest of the first period to take a 2-0 lead.

In the second period he stretched out his lead with two near falls which ran the score up to 8-0 midway through the third. Higgins was able to manage two late escapes but it was not nearly enough as Naig extended the winning margin to 9-2 with riding time factored in.

The loss was disappointing for the UW-P junior from Oconomowoc who never was able to establish control at all. Higgins was forced to wrestle a match which suited Naig’s style, which is controlling the match from the top. With the loss, Higgins would face Aaron Cook of Buena Vista University in the second round of the wrestle backs in order to move on in the tournament.

Higgins - Second Round

From the outset, Cook controlled the action in the match. He scored on a single leg takedown only 20 seconds into the match and finished the first round with the same score. Cook scored a reversal from the bottom position about a minute and half into the second period and finished the round with a 4-0 score, but he had already accumulated three minutes and 56 seconds in riding time.

The third period was full of action as Higgins scrambled to try and get back in the match. The period started with Cook and Higgins facing off in neutral positions. Higgins was able to score an early takedown to get the score to 4-2. He allowed Cook to return to his feet and shot in again taking him down to make the score 5-4. But as Higgins was getting up to allow the wrestlers to get back to neutral, Cook reached back and kept Higgins down to run the final score to 6-4 with riding time.

The loss was a disappointing one for Higgins who finished his year with a record of 26-10.

“He was caught a couple of times,” Keith Albert, Pioneer assistant coach said, “Cook was a great rider and every time Ryan almost got out he kept him down.”

“He [Higgins] wrestled well, but he needs to make some changes if he wants to get back to the medal podium,” Chris Walter, head coach, said.

Higgins returns for his senior year with large expectations, after the season ended with a sour note of losing both of his matches at Nationals.

“He needs to get fired up,” Albert said, “He needs to use this in the summer as motivation so he can get back and do well.”

Milks - First Round

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Milks, a sophomore from Rock City, Ill., took control of his first match early and kept that control throughout. Milks scored an early takedown and followed that early lead up by controlling the pace, and even though it was tied for a short moment at 2-2 in the first period, Milks took control for the next two periods and coasted to the 9-4 victory.

Milks’ superior mat positioning and body control was put to the test by Ryan Herwig of Delaware Valley College who tried several unorthodox maneuvers from the bottom position in an attempt to take control of Milks’ head, but the sophomore Pioneer and returning national qualifier was not to be denied.

Milks - Quarterfinals

Milks faced a familiar opponent in Eric Hansen of Loras College in the quarterfinals of the 157-pound bracket. Milks had already defeated Hansen three times this season in close matches each time.

Milks came out early trying to press the action attempting takedowns which were met with resistance from Larsenwho broke through first by scoring a takedown off of a sprawl defense of a Milks shot attempt. That was the difference for only a few seconds as Milks used his quickness to escape and make the score 2-1, which was the same at the end of the first period. To start the second period Larsen chose the down position and escaped, ducking out of Milks’ grasp to make the score 3-1.

The score went up another point as Milks was called for stalling with only 38 seconds remaining in the second period. With the score at 4-1 to start the third and final period, Milks chose the down position and shot out of his position like a cannon several times, forcing Larsen to push him out, for which Larsen was called for his own stalling penalty to make the score 4-2 with only nine seconds off of the clock in the third period.

Milks capitalized on this mistake by quickly escaping only four seconds later to make the score 4-3 with one minute and 47 seconds remaining. At that point, the match swung in Milks’s favor as it had in the third period in the three previous matches. Milks simply used his superior conditioning to punish the fifth seeded Larsen into submission.

“Talent or technique, we pride ourselves on conditioning at UW-P,” Walter said, “We go seven minutes hard every match.”

This certainly was the case as Milks was able to shoot in on Larsen at will, and while three attempts were rebuffed by Larsen’s takedown defenses and Larsen’s backing out of the circle several times, Milks was not to be denied. With 16 seconds remaining in the final period, Milks fired in one last time gaining inside leg control on Larsen who attempted to fall out of the circle one more time to avoid the deciding takedown. Only this time Milks was prepared, switched his hip positioning and rolled through for an easy takedown and a 5-4 victory. The victory was more vindication for the super sophomore who came into the season with the goal of being an All-American, a goal he accomplished with this victory.

“He wrestled me the same as usual,” Milks said, “It’s hard to wrestle his style because he is so strong in the upper body. I used my takedowns and defense against him.”

“Jesse was frustrated early and he wore him down as he had in the other matches,” Walter said.

The road does not get any easier here for Milks. He, like Higgins, would have to face the number one wrestler in the nation from Wartburg College, this time in the form of Aaron Wernimont who brings along a 38-1 record to the match.

“I wrestled him last year and I was able to get in deep on shots against him but I never finished,” Milks said, “That’s going to be the biggest thing for me, getting my points early.”

“He is going to need to be solid in all three phases to win. He is good on his feet, good on the mat and he must be mentally tough,” Walter said.

For Milks, the match is a culmination of a journey that started a long time ago and now he can taste the fruit of his labors. A win against Wernimont is something he will need to work hard and wrestle smart to accomplish, but he is very close to realizing the dream of being a national champion.