2004-05 WIAC Wrestling
Athletes of the Week

Week of Feb. 7 - 13
Cody Koenig, Senior (Underwood, Iowa), 174 pounds of UW-Stevens Point
Koenig won both of his matches this week to improve to 23-2 on the season. He earned one of the Pointer victories in a dual match with top-ranked Augsburg (Minn.), by defeating Robbie Gotreau 7-5. The following day, Koenig pinned Lance Valiquette of UW-Eau Claire in 2:38 in the Pointers' 35-7 dual match victory.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Shane Brady, Freshman, 133 pounds, Chetek
UW-Oshkosh, Mike Farchione, Senior, 285 pounds, Kewaskum

Week of Jan. 31 - Feb. 6
Ross Needham, Sophomore (Marshfield), 157 pounds of UW-La Crosse
Needham won the 157-pound title at the Wheaton (Ill.) Pete Willson Invitational over the weekend. He entered the meet as the number five seed. Needham defeated Adam Miller of Wabash (Ind.) in the first round (5-2) and then won by injury default over Rob Meadors of MacMurray (Ill.). He defeated number four seed Ian Rammel from Heidelberg (Ohio) by major decision (10-1) in the quarterfinals. Needham then defeated top seed Mitch Napier of the University of Indianapolis in the semifinals (7-5). Napier is ranked number one in the country in NCAA Division II. Needham defeated Mike Kerr of Augustana (Ill.) (4-2) in the finals.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Derek Sikora, Junior, 165 pounds, Neillsville
UW-Oshkosh, Sean Fortmann, Sophomore, 174 pounds, Mukwonago
UW-Stevens Point, Mike Hayes, Junior, 285 pounds, Beaver Dam

Week of Jan. 24 - 30
Joel Burdick, Junior (Racine/Park), 141 pounds of UW-Stevens Point
Burdick won both his matches this week, defeating a NCAA Division II wrestler and a Division III All-American. He defeated Larry Silva of UW-Parkside, 9-3, in the Pointers' dual meet victory on January 26. Burdick then edged sixth-ranked Nick Karls of UW-Whitewater, 3-2, on January 29. Karls had defeated Burdick twice last season.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Josh Holforty, Freshman, 197 pounds, Bloomington, Minn. (Kennedy)
UW-La Crosse, Jake Larsen, Sophomore, 149 pounds, Turtle Lake
UW-Oshkosh, Jeremy VanSchyndel, Sophomore, 133 pounds, Kaukauna

Week of Jan. 17 - 23
Cody Koenig, Senior (Underwood, Iowa), 174 pounds of UW-Stevens Point
Koenig went 6-1 this week, including winning all five of his matches at the National Wrestling Coaches Association Duals in Cleveland, Ohio over the weekend. He earned four victories by decisions, one by pin and one by forfeit. Koenig pinned Tom Bradford of Loras (Iowa) in 1:08 in a dual match on January 18. At the National Duals, Koenig defeated Jeff Harrington of College of New Jersey, 11-6, fourth-ranked Mark Hawald of John Carroll (Ohio), 4-1, Josh Chelf of UW-La Crosse, 6-4, and Mathias Keib of Ithaca (N.Y.), 12-5.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Derek Sikora, Junior, 165 pounds, Neillsville
UW-La Crosse, Jake Larsen, Sophomore, 149 pounds, Turtle Lake
UW-Oshkosh, Doug Rozelman, Sophomore, 141 pounds, Greensboro, N.C. (Grimsley)
UW-Platteville, Corey Binger, Freshman, 125 pounds, Monroe

Week of Jan. 10 - 16
Josh Zabel, Freshman (Rochester, Minn./Mayo), 184 pounds of UW-La Crosse
Zabel went 4-0 at 184-pounds at the Terry Haws Dual Tournament at St. John's (Minn.). He defeated seventh-ranked Dan Willaert of St. John's, 6-4, in the opening match. Zabel then defeated Nick Wilkes of Itasca Community College (Minn.), second in the National Junior College Athletic Association rankings, by a score of 4-2. Zabel defeated Ryan Gosch of NCAA Division II Southwest State (Minn.) by major decision (10-2) and Brandon Gruchow of Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead by fall (6:42). Zabel also won by fall (3:55) over UW-Whitewater's Drew Hamel in a dual meet on January 11. Zabel is 20-7 on the season.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Shane Brady, Freshman, 133 pounds, Chetek
UW-Oshkosh, Mike Farchione, Senior, 285 pounds, Kewaskum

Week of Jan. 3 - 9
Nate Muckerheide, Senior (Oostburg), 285 pounds of UW-Oshkosh
Competing in his first meet of the season, Muckerheide captured the 285-pound title at the Simpson (Iowa) Invitational held January 8. Muckerheide recorded three pins in three matches at the invitational, including a pin over Brett Christensen of Simpson in the title bout at the 7:10 mark. He opened the tournament with pins in 1:13 and 1:24 over Eli Taylor of Simpson and Dan Williams of William Penn (Iowa), respectively.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Drew Bingner, Freshman, 285 pounds, Fort Atkinson
UW-La Crosse, Josh Zabel, Freshman, 174 pounds, Rochester, Minn. (Mayo)
UW-Platteville, Tom Venner, Junior, 197 pounds, Genoa (DeSoto)

Week of Dec. 6 - 12
Derek Sikora, Junior (Neillsville), 165 pounds of UW-Eau Claire
Sikora improved his record to 6-0 on the season with two wins in two separate dual matches this week. Ranked second nationally at 165 pounds, Sikora notched the only Blugold victory over fifth-ranked UW-La Crosse pinning Jerad Clark at 3:54. On Saturday, Sikora scored an 18-5 major decision victory over Jerry Blahut of Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Also nominated:
UW-La Crosse, David Olson, Freshman, 285 pounds, Farmington, Minn.
UW-Oshkosh, Sean Fortmann, Senior, 174 pounds, Mukwonago
UW-Platteville, Dane Droessler, Freshman, 133 pounds, Platteville

Week of Nov. 29 - Dec. 5
Josh Chelf, Freshman (Irma/Tomahawk), 174/184 pounds of UW-La Crosse
Chelf went 5-0 this week, including a 4-2 victory at 184 pounds over second-ranked Ben Dictus of Lawrence. Chelf went 4-0 at the UW-La Crosse 2x4 Tournament on December 4, finishing 3-0 at 184 and 1-0 at 174. At 184, he won by fall over Travis Brigham of Concordia (Wis.) and Matt Zickafoose of Augustana (Ill.) and by major decision over Nick Mason of Elmhurst (Ill.). Chelf defeated Casey Boutain of St. John's (Minn.) by major decision at 174.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Derek Sikora, Junior, 165 pounds, Neillsville
UW-Oshkosh, Mike Farchione, Senior, 285 pounds, Kewaskum
UW-Platteville, Corey Binger, Freshman, 125 pounds, Monroe
UW-Stevens Point, Eric Bath, Freshman, 165 pounds, Pulaski

Week of Nov. 22 - 28
None selected.

Week of Nov. 15 - 21
Ryan Allen, Junior (Livingston/Iowa-Grant), 285 pounds of UW-La Crosse
Allen went 3-1 and finished second in the heavyweight division at the Auggie-Brute-adidas Open on November 20. He defeated Rich Roesler of Southwest State (Minn.) and Adam Buthe of Buena Vista (Iowa) by fall and Mark Simmonds of Augsburg (Minn.) by a 4-2 score. Simmonds is ranked fourth in NCAA Division III. Allen then lost 3-2 in the championship match to Cole Konrad of Minnesota, who is ranked second in NCAA Division I.

Also nominated:
Lawrence, John Budi, Sophomore, 165 pounds, Kimberly
UW-Eau Claire, Josh Holforty, Freshman, 197 pounds, Bloomington, Minn.
UW-Oshkosh, Jeremy VanSchyndel, Sophomore, 133 pounds, Kaukauna
UW-Platteville, Corey Binger, Freshman, 125 pounds, Monroe
UW-Stevens Point, Joel Burdick, Junior, 141 pounds, Racine (Park)

Week of Nov. 8 - 14
Cody Koenig, Senior (Underwood, Iowa), 174 pounds of UW-Stevens Point
Koenig went 4-0 to capture the 174-pound Gold Division at the UW-Stevens Point Open. He recorded a pair of decisions in the first two rounds, before pinning George Kirgon of Northern Illinois in 5:55 in the semifinals. Koenig then defeated Danny Burk of Northern Illinois 4-3 in the championship match.

Also nominated:
UW-Eau Claire, Larry Moen, Senior, 197 pounds, Madison (East)
UW-Oshkosh, Kevin Luedtke, Freshman, 165 pounds, Two Rivers


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