The Lawrence University Wrestling team had an exceptional weekend Jan. 24-25. The Vikings won two duel matches Friday night, and then won the Wisconsin Private College Championships on Saturday. The Vikings took on MSOE and UW-Eau Claire on Friday night. The Raiders of MSOE were no trouble, as the Vikings easily manhandled them.
The Vikings won every weight class except 197 pounds and the heavyweight class.
Both Adam Nickel and Ric Scannel pinned their opponents for the win. The final score was 37-9 in favor of the Vikings.
The Vikings also took on UW-Eau Claire in a conference duel. Both the Vikings and the Bluegolds compete in the WIAC.
The Vikings dropped the first match of the duel, but won the next four matches to go out to an early lead over the Bluegolds.
After trading matches, the Vikings dropped the next two to UWEC. The Vikings led 21-18 coming into the heavyweight match.
The Vikings had Mark Schmoll going up against Mark Campbell for the Bluegolds. Schmoll pulled out a 2-1 win and gave LU the duel victory at 24-18.
The Vikings are now 2-1 in their first year in the WIAC.
Saturday the Vikings were back at work as they hosted the Wisconsin Private College Championships.
The Vikings showed no ill effects of wrestling the night before, and stormed to the title with 99 points. Concordia came in second with 66.5 points.
The Vikings had several wrestlers compete in the championship matches, but only one who won an individual title.
At 133 pounds, Nick Morphew went to win the title by defeating Concordia’s Nick Bottcher 4-2 in the championship match.
The Vikings had several other wrestlers finish high, and took second place in every other weight class except for heavyweight.
The Vikings will go to UW-Whitewater for a duel match Friday night, but will be back home to host UW-La Crosse Saturday night in Alexander Gym. UW-La Crosse is ranked fourth in the latest national poll.