The Pioneer wrestling team opened their conference play Nov. 19 against the UW-Oshkosh Titans. UW-Platteville lost 15-25 against UW-O due to forfeits in the 133 and 197 pound weight classes.

The Pioneers took a 15-13 lead halfway through the matches but couldn’t keep the lead because the Titans gained 12 points from the two forfeits from injury to win the competition by 10 points.

Photograph by Kate Olsen
Freshman Alex LeRoy warms up before a match. The Pioneers are currently 0-1 in conference play looking to defeat the UW-L Eagles at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Williams Fieldhouse.

“As a team, we are starting to get everyone healthy so we can be competitive at the end of the season,” sophomore Andrew Skog said. “Right now I have to work on getting better at taking more shots and finishing takedowns.”

UW-P came away with three defeats and one pin during the Titan invite. In the 141 pounds class UW-P’s junior Andy Casper pinned UW-O’s Alex Mueller, Pioneer junior Ryan Bormann defeated Titan Jose Quintana in the 149 pound weight class 14-10, UW-P’s junior Jesse Milks defeated UW-O’s Aaron Konitzer 5-3, and Pioneer senior Carsten Carlsen defeated Titan Eli Felts 7-4.

Carlsen earned the WIAC wrestler of the week for his wins in the 174 pounds class at the Knox College Invitational Nov. 15. According to the Sports Information Web site, he pinned Rend Lake College’s Jordan Echols in 4:33, beat Dubuque’s Taylor Osborn 16-0, downed UW-Oshkosh’s Eli Felts 3-2 and then defeated Dubuque’s Evan Brown 3-2 in the championship match. Brown was a returning NCAA III national qualifier.

“It was great to win the WIAC wrestler for the week for me, it showed me that the work I have put in is starting to pay off, now I just need to build on that for the rest of the season,” Carlsen said.

On Nov. 29 the Pioneers took a trip to the Concordia Open in Mequon. No team scores were kept but Carlsen won four matches in the 174 pound weight class, Skog won three matches in the 125 pound weight class and junior Brad Zellner won four matches and lost in his championship match against North Central’s Gabe Youel in the 184 pound weight class.

“There are always things that need improving both for myself and for the team as a whole, its still early in the season so we have plenty of time to adjust before conference,” Carlsen said.

UW-P (0-1) will host their second conference match against the UW-La Crosse Eagles (5-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Williams Fieldhouse.