Kochiu, Padilla Lead Falcons at 27th CUW Wrestling Open
MEQUON, Wis. -- Val Kochiu placed fifth at 141 lbs. and Marco Padilla took sixth at 125 lbs. to lead the Falcon wrestling team at the 27th CUW Open on Saturday inside the R. John Buuck Field House.
The Falcons, coming off a hard-fought 21-17 win over Triton College Friday night, hosted one of the most competitive CUW Open tournaments in many years with 20 teams from five states competing. No. 1 Wabash, No. 2 Loras and No. 3 Wartburg led a strong field of highly ranked teams.
Kochiu (Oak Creek, Wis.) exploded the bottom half of the bracket at 141 lbs. with a pair of come-from-behind pins, including a pin over 2018 national champion Brock Rathburn of Wartburg in the quarterfinals. He would fall to eventual CUW Open champion Hazen Rice of UW-Whitewater in the semifinals, then come back to take fifth place. The sophomore went 4-2 on the day to push his season record to 8-3.
Padilla (Elmwood Park, Ill.) placed sixth at 125 lbs. for the Falcons, opening with a 13-5 win over Chicago's Shinji Mizoguchi. After dropping a 9-1 decision to Wartburg's Brady Kyner in the quarterfinals, Padilla would pick up a hard-fought 9-8 win over Wabash's Kyle Cavanaugh on his way to sixth place. Padilla is now 6-6 on the year.
Josh Te Stroete (Cedar Grove, Wis.) went 5-1 on the day and won the consolation bracket at 165 lbs. After opening with a 19-3 technical fall, he dropped a tight 6-5 decision to Chicago's Will Britain to go to the consolation side of the bracket. Te Stroete would then reel off four straight wins and finish the day with a 7-2 decision over Mike Bauman of UW-Oshkosh. The freshman now leads the team in wins and ran his record to 9-3 on the season.
Merrick O'Donnell (Huntington Beach, Calif.) was 2-2 on the day at 184 lbs., but did not place. He is now 7-4 on the year.
Loras' Shane Liegel was voted Outstanding Wrestler of the CUW Open, winning the 184 lbs. bracket.
Up next, the Falcons (1-0) head to the MSOE Invitational on Saturday, December 8. The first round begins at 9 am.
