Jesse Milks is ranked 5th at 157

The success of the 2007-08 UW-Platteville wrestling team will depend on how quickly a solid returning group meshes with an outstanding incoming freshman class, 11th-year Pioneer Coach Chris Walter said.

"We may be starting four or five freshmen, so it will be a process in the making," said Walter, who has an 80-66-3 career dual mark. "The biggest thing we need to do is improve each day. The guys have been practicing hard, and it will be interesting to see how it all comes together."

The Pioneers will hold their annual wrestle-offs Saturday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. in Williams Fieldhouse. Admission is free for these competitions to determine the starting lineup.

"I want to see who is going to compete," Walter said. "There will be some very good matchups with the mixture of young guys and returning starters. It will be interesting to see who goes out and fights for that starting position."

The Pioneers finished 13th in the NCAA III national championships last year and return all-American Ryan Higgins, who was 30-6 at 149 pounds, and national qualifier Jesse Milks, 26-9 at 157. Higgins begins this year ranked fourth in the nation in his weight class, while Milks is fifth in his.

"With Jesse Milks and Ryan Higgins making the national tournament last year, they'll provide the leadership," Walter said. "We also have returners in Spencer Peterson (13-11 at 125), Jeff Gale (16-12 at 133), Brad Zellner (11-17 at 184), Matt Beschta (11-16 at 184) and Paul Wochinski (16-11 at 285)."

Along with last year's underclassmen, Walter brought in an exceptional recruiting class, with many challenging for mat time right away.

"Our freshmen class is solid from top to bottom," the coach said. "At 125 pounds, we have Andrew Skog, from Darlington, a state placewinner; at 133, we have Ross George, an Illinois state champion; at 141, Vinny Alber, a three-time Illinois state placewinner and state champion last year; at 149, Greg Burke, a multiple state champion from Mineral Point; and then Lodi's Cody Weber, a state runner-up at heavyweight. So we have a bunch of guys coming up right now and some you'll hear from later on."

The Pioneers open their season Nov. 10 at the Lakeland Duals, where they'll wrestle nationally-ranked teams St. John's and Coe as well as the host Muskies and conference foe UW-Eau Claire. The home opener is Thursday, Nov. 15 against UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m. Coe is ranked seventh and St. John's 23rd in the national preseason poll. UW-Platteville faces six teams ranked in the top 30 in dual meets and face many more in tournaments.