Kopietz placed first in the 165-pound weight class with 11 wrestlers. Going into the invitational, Kopietz was seeded first.

"“I’'m finally getting into the groove. At the tournament, I felt good and had a lot of energy. With every match, I just built up more confidence and at the end of the day, I felt great,"” Kopietz said.

Wood finished the tournament first in the 197-pound weight class, against eight other wrestlers. The championship round was against Justin Schmalfeldt from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Seeded second, Wood said this tournament was the first he had taken first in since his sophomore year in college.

"“My goal was to get first,"” Wood said. “"During the final match, I knew there was no way he was going to beat me. I just wrestled my style and didn'’t let him control the match.”"

Ian Gacheru ’'10 finished at 1-2 in the 141-pound weight class and Jake Lambers '’07 went 1-2 in the 285-pound weight class.

The other colleges that attended the invitational were UW-Oshkosh, Lakeland College, Lawrence University, Maranatha Babtist Bible College, Milwaukee School of Engineering, UW-Plattville and Wheaton College.

The team, dealing with sickness, will have its final meet before Christmas break on Saturday against UW-Eau Claire. The match is set to get underway at noon in the Skoglund gym.

"“If we come out and wrestle hard, it will be good, but it all depends on how hard we wrestle this weekend,”" Kopietz said.

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