EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's wrestling team had five wrestlers place at the Eight Man Battles hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Saturday, Nov 22.

Junior Austin Johnston (Normal, Ill. - Normal West) built off his second place performance from a year ago, finishing first at 141 pounds. He defeated Blake Heal of UW-Eau Claire in just over four minutes via a pin. In the semi-finals, the Normal, Ill. native earned his second pin of the day, this time over Jacob Hillshafer of Lakeland. In the finals, Johnston took the crown with a 6-3 decision over Augustana's Matt Lucansky. 

At 125 pounds, Dylan McGrew (Normal, Ill. - Normal West) finished in sixth place, going 2-2 on the day. McGrew earned wins over John Ackerman of Buena Vista and Nebraska Wesleyan's Ben Cervantes.

Freshman Tyson Zvonar (Frankfort, Ill. - Lincoln-Way East) dropped his first match, but won his final two. His victories included a pin over Jimmy Macias of Nebraska Wesleyan and a 8-1 decision over Buena Vista's Jack Decker to finish fifth.

At 157 pounds, Evan Carel (Hamilton, Ill. - Hamilton) earned seventh place. He defeated Hayden Stout of Buena Vista with a 5-2 decision before dropping his next two matches. Carel ended the day winning back-to-back bouts.

Sophomore Lucas Blanton (Dixon, Ill. - Amboy) dropped his opening match, but wrestled back with wins over Braike Jones of Nebraska Wesleyan, and Lamero Ceaser of Augustana, both via pins. In the fifth place match, he defeated Nebraska Wesleyan's Casey Kinnel with a 12-11 decision to finish the day in fifth place.

The Titans are back in action Tuesday, Dec. 2 against College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin foes, MSOE and Augustana. Action from Rock Island is scheduled for 4 p.m.