In his first dual meet of the season, junior and team captain Mack Drees picked up a 4-1 win for the Pioneer wrestling team in their matchup with WIAC rival and No. 5 ranked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Nov. 29.
Drees’ win was one of the few things that went the Pioneers’ way in the match.
The visiting Eagles ran away with the matchup soon after Drees’s win at 135-lbs, winning seven of the eight remaining matches for a 39-9 win.
“We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be,” head coach Chris Walter said. “There were some mismatches personnel-wise. We’ve got a long way to go to get to that level.”
Assistant coach Scott McWilliams echoed Walter’s disappointment.
“There was a lot of little mistakes that showed our youth,” McWilliams said. “La Crosse is an excellent team, and that’s where we want to be.”
Despite his success, Drees said he felt the Pioneers were unable to match the Eagles intensity throughout the night.
“We have to come out with a little more fire,” Drees said. “I feel like that’s something that we as team captains have to do. We have to get the troops fired up a little more.”
The overall mood of the team after Thursday’s loss was to improve at the weekend’s tournament at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Invitational. The Pioneers did just that.
The team finished fifth of 11 teams and seven Pioneers took fifth place or higher at the invite. The Pioneers were led by seniors Sean Yaros, making his return after a high-ankle sprain injury, and Peter Crocco, who brought home titles in the 197-lbs and 157-lbs brackets, respectively.
Drees followed his win over the Eagles with a fourth-place finish at MSOE.
“As a team, we really improved technique-wise from the bottom position,” Walter said. “Individually, Pete wrestled with his hair on fire.”
The Pioneers will look to build on their successes in Milwaukee this week with back-to-back WIAC duals Friday and Saturday at No. 9 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
The Pioneers will travel to Stevens Point and compete Friday, and then travel to Eau Claire and wrestle Saturday.
“The back-to-back duals is something new and is really just to try to cut down on travel costs,” Walter said.
After Saturday’s dual, the Pioneers will not compete for a month, giving the student-athletes time off for finals week and winter break. The wrestlers will return to campus Jan. 2 for practices.
