Sports
Wrestlers nearing regular season’s end, nationals in sight
The Pointer
bhaig870@uwsp.edu
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point wrestling team prepares to enter their last weekend of competition with meets against Augsburg College on Saturday, Feb. 14, and UW-Eau Claire on Sunday, Feb. 15.
The UW-SP team holds an overall record of 15-4-1 and 3-1-1 in the WIAC conference. The team has proven itself worthy of a legitimate shot at nationals, tying the nationally fifth-ranked UW-Whitewater last week before placing second at the UW-Eau Claire Invitational, only 14 points behind first-ranked Augsburg College.
Senior Chase DeCleene tallied four victories en route to his first place finish that included a 3-2 decision against Justin Garcia of UW-La Crosse this past weekend at the UW-Eau Claire Invitational.
DeCleene, a senior from Ashwaubenon, Wis., is currently 21-10 this season with just three losses since the start of January.
“For the remainder of the season, I’d hope to make it to the national tournament, become an All-American, and help my team place high in the nation,” said DeCleene.
The Pointer grapplers will get a taste of the challenges they could potentially face in the upcoming post-season competition this weekend against Augsburg. Unbeaten in NCAA Division III wrestling, the only loss came from a Division II University of Nebraska-Omaha 28-9 dual meet victory over the Auggies. What does DeCleene have to say about the upcoming meet?
“We are a confident team.Augsburg would be silly to think we are just going to lay down for them,” he said. “ None of us enjoy losing, so we are going to do all we can to prevent us from losing. We plan on working hard all week to prepare for two very difficult matches.”
However, the day after their big meet against Augsburg, the Pointers return to the mat against conference rivals UW-Eau Claire, but senior DeCleene has seen this before.
“Its a little wearing mentally, but we had the same scenario last year, and we did well the second day. We just have to keep our heads on straight and keep focus to wrestle well,” DeCleene said.
The UW-SP team clearly has their work cut out for them, but DeCleene gives a clear veteran statement in his thoughts on the postseason.
“I think we will have a great conference tournament and place high in the nation. We’ve worked too hard for that not to happen.”
