Wrestlers Battle At Opening Meet
Nov. 1, 2003
The Lakeland College Wrestling Team opened their season Saturday morning at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the first annual Dan Gable "Commitment to Excellence" Open. The tournament joins Division I, II, and III schools in one of the biggest and most competitive tournaments in the country.

The young Muskie squad made up of all freshmen and sophomores got off to a strong start to the new season.

Scott Toledo (133 lbs.) finished 2-1 on the day and took 2nd in his weight class falling 10-4 in the finals.

Noe DeLeon (133 lbs.) competed in the same weight class and won 4-2 in the third place match to finish 1-2 on the day

At 149 Matt Preimesberger wrestled his way to a second place finish defeating two UW-Oshkosh wrestlers before losing in the finals to Craig Henning of UW Madison 12-2. Preimesberger was 2-1 on the day.

At 157 Sonny Martinez Lost to Lancaster of UWO in the finals 9-3.

An interesting match occurred at 174 when sophomore Tim Vallier of Lakeland College (3-0) and Freshman Trevor Berndt (2-1) battled it out for first place. Vallier came out on top with a 14-8 decision.

Lee Sparks lost in the finals at 184 to UW Madison's Ryan Flaherty 5-13. His record was 2-1 on the day.

Finally, Mark Vanden Hoogen took third place in the heavyweight division pinning his opponent from UW-Oshkosh in the first period of his last match.

The Muskies hit the mats again when they compete at the UW-Stevens Point Open at 9am on Nov. 8th.