Team Scores          Complete Brackets

It was a good couple of days and a great way to start off 2009 for the UW-Parkside wrestling team. The team finished in second place out of 22 participating teams and crowned three individual champions at the annual Midwest Classic, hosted by the University of Indianapolis January 3-4.

The Rangers amassed 118.5 points, behind team champion Newberry College, which tallied 149.5. UW-Parkside was a safe distance ahead of the third place team, Ashland, which totaled 95.5 points.

Craig Becker (149), Corey VanGroll (165) and Lucas Haag (184) each championed their weight class for the Rangers.

Becker came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed at 149 and handled Kayne Melko of West Liberty in the championship match by a 6-1 score. After scoring a bye, Becker won his first two matches easily by counts of 11-1 and 10-1. He edged Latra Collick of Newberry in the semi-finals, 5-3.

Like Becker, VanGroll was the No. 2 seed in his weight class. He picked up a bye in the first round, then won by 8-4 and 14-1 scores. VanGroll got by the No. 3 seed at 165, Justin Shannon of Findlay, in the semi-finals, 6-5. He went on to top the No. 1 seed, JaVonte Ashford of King College, 9-3 in the championship bout.

Haag came through the brackets as champion with a No. 5 seed at 184 pounds. He won his first three matches decidedly, 8-3, 13-1 and 10-0. Haag took a 10-6 decision from the No. 2 seed, Bryant Blanton of Newberry, in the finals, after edging the No. 1 seed, Kyle Sand of Adams State, 5-4 in the semi-finals.

Cody Zimmerman (125) and Luke Rynish (174) won their third place matches. Zimmerman defeated Brandon Davis of Ashland, 9-1, and Rynish triumphed over Jeff Havelka of Findlay, 7-4.

Malcolm Briggs lost a 9-0 decision to Keeno Griffin of Newberry in the third place match, but earned a fourth place finish.

Brandon Kircher was an eighth place finisher at 133 pounds.

Next up for the Rangers are the National Duals, hosted by the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 10-11.

See Kenosha News story: http://www.kenoshanews.com/sports/parkside_wrestlers_looking_to_step_up_4121422.html

See Racine Journal Times story:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2009/01/05/local_sports/doc49619accd1a33249570237.txt