EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Freshman
Adam Whittier qualified at 149 pounds for the 2026 NCAA DIII Championships this Saturday as the University of Wisconsin-Platteville wrestling team finished sixth of 16 teams at the NCAA DIII Regional hosted at UW-Eau Claire.
Whittier captured third place to advance to the national meet and becomes the first national qualifier for the Pioneers since 2023.
Sixth place is the highest team finish at the regional event since UW-Platteville placed fifth in 2023. As a team, the Pioneers scored 66.5 points. Augsburg totaled 213 points to win the event while conference opponents UW-La Crosse (165), UW-Eau Claire (140.5), and UW-Stevens Point (120) took second through fourth.
Whittier went 3-0 on day two, starting with a 14-1 major decision over Jesse Burg of Lakeland. The Pioneer used a hot start in his next match against Aidan Baum of UW-La Crosse to jump out to an 8-3 lead after one period and finished with a 9-3 decision to send him to the third-place match. Trailing 1-0 going into the third period against No. 12 Landon Church of UW-Eau Claire, Whittier tied the match before stacking back-to-back takedowns and riding time to win 8-2.
Two other Pioneers advanced to the third-place match of their brackets and took fourth place. Freshman
Luke Kamish (157) won his first two matches by 14-7 and 7-6 decisions before falling 8-2 to Joe Penchi of UW-La Crosse. Junior
Jackson Kirsch (285) started the day with a 10-1 major decision win followed by a 7-2 decision victory, but fell one place shy of nationals after suffering a 4-1 decision loss by a takedown in the final seconds to No. 10 Markos Mihalopoulos of UW-La Crosse.
Wrestling at 197, sophomore
Kain Killmer started with a win by 6-1 decision and finished the day in sixth place. Junior
Chris Karbash also finished on the 125 pounds podium and concluded the day strong by pinning Hunter Mars of Concordia Moorhead (3:52) in the seventh place match.
Whittier will gear up for a trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa where the National Championship will be hosted Friday and Saturday, March 13-14 inside the Alliant Energy Power House.
