Paced by three champions, the UW-Platteville wrestling team easily captured the 11-school Spartan Mat Classic Saturday at Manchester (Ind.) College.
The Pioneers, who put wrestlers through to the semifinals in eight of the 10 weight classes, cruised to the win with 163 points, well ahead of Heidelberg's 125.5.
"We wrestled really well today," Coach Chris Walter said. "The light is finally starting to come on for some of the young guys."
Ryan Higgins won at 149 pounds, reversing a loss the previous week to Concordia's Joe Massman. Higgins beat Massman 5-1 in the championship match, finishing the day with a 4-0 record.
Jesse Milks went 4-0 to win the 157-pound title. He crushed second-seeded Matt Curley of Heidelberg 15-4 in the finals. The nation's seventh-ranked wrestler also won by a pin and another majority decision in earlier rounds.
Cory Zuberbier took the 174-pound weight class, winning all three of his matches. He beat top-seeded Nick Kraus of Tri-State 11-4 in the championship match.
Reaching their championship matches and finishing second were Brad Zellner at 184 and Michael Jackowski at 197. Vinny Alber finished third at 141 but won the tournament award for the most pins in the least amount of time. He pinned four opponents in 9:16.
Walter said the entire team wrestled well, noting that the reserves' score actually placed them seventh in the team standings.
"They've really showed maturity the last two weeks," the coach said. "We've had two good weeks in a row and now we want to make it three."
The Pioneers wrestle at Lawrence University next Saturday at 6 p.m.
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