The UW Oshkosh wrestling team traveled to take on No. 23 ranked UW-Platteville on Feb. 7, which culminated in a 28-9 defeat for the Titans.

UWO initially grasped a 9-3 lead over the Pioneers with victories at 184 pounds by senior John DePersia, 197 pounds by senior Colten Cashmore, and 125 pounds by freshman Denis Murphy. After the Titans won three of the first four matches, the Pioneers would rally back by winning out the remaining six matches to overwhelm the Titans and amass their fourth win of the season.

The Titans opened the evening with two decision victories, as DePersia defeated UWP’s Jacob Sklenar 7-3, followed by Cashmore defeating UWP’s Max Schmitz 8-2. The back-to-back victories created a six-point Titan lead. Cashmore collected his 27th victory of the season to give him a career record of 90-42. The 27 wins are also the most on the team, with Cashmore being the only wrestler with over 20 victories to this point in the season. At 285 pounds, junior Jordan Lemcke lost in a 5-2 decision to UWP’s Lucius Rinehart to lessen the lead to three.

Murphy followed with a 6-5 decision victory over UWP’s Isaac Wiegel to give the Titans a 9-3 lead. The night concluded for the Titans with six straight losses, as sophomore AJ Schoenfuss (135 pounds) was defeated 5-2 by UWP’s Luke Pradel, sophomore Eli Mondrella (141) was pinned in 1:23 by UWP’s Chase Katzenmeyer, and junior Shane Dziadosz (149) lost 2-1 to UWP’s Garrett Ruckdashel.

The losses continued to mount as sophomore Muzi Sitshela (157) lost 5-4 to UWP’s Alexander Struede, sophomore Oscar Ramos (165) was pinned in 3:54 by UWP’s Nathan Wynsma, before the meet ended with junior AJ Stengel (174) being defeated by a 16-4 major decision by UWP’s Nick Dado.

The Titans (4-10, 1-4 WIAC) will next compete in the WIAC championship in La Crosse on Feb. 14, an event UWO finished in fourth place last year with 103.5 points. The Titans last won the WIAC championship in 1982.