Parkside Athletics

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside's Nick Becker was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 22 after dominating his weight class at the Midwest Classic.
 
The 174-pounder ripped through his division over the weekend at the two-day Midwest Classic in Indianapolis, ending the tournament with a weight class crown and improving to 20-0 on the young season. The criminal justice major won his opening two matches in decisive fashion, pinning Brewton-Parker College's Zach Perez is 5:59 before pinning King University's Joey Mammolenti in 4:38. The Hartland, Wisconsin, native bested University of North Carlonia-Pembroke's Blaze Shade 6-3 in the quarterfinals before netting a 13-0 major decision win over Lake Erie College's Nick Vandermeer. Becker was crowned champion after slipping past defending national runner-up Zeb Wahle of Maryville University with a 4-3 decision victory.
 
Becker scored 25 of UW-Parkside's 119.5 points, helping the 17th-ranked Rangers place runner-up at the 31-team event that featured 10 nationally-ranked NCAA Division II squads. Parkside's point tally was just two shy of Midwest Classic Champion and top-ranked Maryville University and was 16.5 points clear of third place and seventh-ranked University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.