There were no team scores kept on Saturday at the Concordia University Wisconsin Open; however, the UW Oshkosh wrestling team had some impressive individual performances.

The Titans were led by their young captain, sophomore Mark Choinski, who finished the day 4-0 in the 157-pound group.

Choinski won three of his four matches by pin and made it to the championship match, but unfortunately, sustained an injury and was forced to forfeit, giving him a second place finish for the tournament.

Choinski said he wasn’t concerned about long term health when it came to his injury.

“I was beat up from practice and also sick with a nasty flu so by the end of the tournament I felt run down,” Choinski said. “Instead of risking serious injury I was pulled from the tournament.”

Choinski did not win four matches against some of the best wrestlers in the country by accident as he said he does it by simply outworking the other opponents.

“Every day after practice I spend another two hours of my own time practicing and getting ready for competition,” Choinski said. “As a wrestler, there really is no time off or breaks, so it’s constant preparation.”

Choinski was not the only bright spot for the Titans as Michael Dunlap, wrestling at 285, finished the day with a 3-2 record with two of his three wins by pinfall.

Freshman Aristride Serrano, wrestling at 165, finished the day at 2-2. Both of his wins were by majority decision. Sophomore Donovan Luckett, wrestling at 141, finished the day with a 3-2 record and freshman Bennett Temple, wrestling at 125, also finished the day at 2-2.

Temple said he was happy with his improvements during the meet.

“I thought my performance was definitely better than the last two weeks, mainly because I was in better shape and competed better,” Temple said. “The tournament didn’t go exactly as planned but it was one of the toughest tournaments in the country so I wasn’t at all upset.”

The Titans did lose their first match of the young season the following Tuesday against UW Stevens Point.

The wrestlers and coaches know that it is a long season and they are going to lose some matches, but are looking to build off of the success they had on Saturday.
While the Titans may be young, head coach Efrain Ayala said he is not at all surprised by the success.

“We demonstrated that we are on the mark for where we want to be come March,” Ayala said. “Some of the best teams in the country were there and we showed we are able to wrestle with the best.”

As far as what they have to work on, Ayala said success will come with getting more experience.

“We still need to work on putting together a full match and controlling the tempo of the match, which will all come in time,” Ayala said.

The Titans host University of Wisconsin-Platteville tonight at 7 p.m. The meet will be held in Oshkosh at Kolf Sports Center. The next tournament for the Titans will be Saturday at Milwaukee School of Engineering. The meet starts at 9 a.m.