CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (www.blugolds.com) — Four University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestlers competed on the biggest on Friday and Saturday at the 2026 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Iowa. With a packed house both days at the Alliant Energy Power House, the Blugolds had two podium placements earning All-America honors. As a team, the Blugolds finished 29th overall with 15.5 points.
In his final season,
Izzy Balsiger earned his second career All-America honor and podium placement with an eighth place finish in the 125 weight class. On day one, eighth seeded Balsiger found himself on the consolation side of the bracket after and opening round defeat to the ninth seeded Brett Birchman from Wartburg. The 7-4 decision loss saw Birchman tally two takedowns and an escape compared to Balsiger's three escapes and a stalling penalty. Izzy bounced back in his next two matches with a 9-6 decision victory over Castleon's Andrew Marchese and a 16-9 win over Averett's Adrian Samano to secure a top-8 finish and All-America honors.
Day two saw a similar start to day one for Balsiger as he fell in his opening match to the third seeded Alex Diaz from NYU by an 18-1 tech fall. In the 7th place match, Balsiger fell in the opening round rematch to Brett Birchman by a 8-1 decision to claim the 8th place on the podium.
In his first NCAA Championship appearance,
Wyatt Unser earned his first All-America honor in the 133 weight class. As the fifteenth seed, Unser began his weekend with a victory in the championship prelims over Baldwin Wallace's Chase Creque by 7-0 decision. With his win, Unser faced the third seed, James Day from Wabash in the first round. Despite a first period escape, Unser was unable to score in the later periods and fell by an 8-1 decision. In the consolation bracket, Wyatt recorded back-to-back upsets with an overtime 8-5 victory over the eleventh seeded Jay McDonnell from Ithaca, and a 2:52 pin over the fourth seed, Connor Kidd from Luther. With his final two wins on day one, Unser solidified himself on the podium and earned his first All-America honor.
On Saturday, Unser fell in a close 13-12 decision match against the eighth seeded Art Martinez from Case Western, sending Wyat to the seventh place match. In his final match of the weekend, Unser defeated Augburg's Chance Suddeth by a 9-2 decision to earn seventh place and a podium finish.
Ian Pepple and
Sloan Welch also competed at the NCAA Championships.
Ian Pepple fell to the sixth seed, Myles Johnson from Ohio Northern in the opening round, and suffered his second loss in his first consolation match against Coast Guard's Gabe Monroe.
Sloan Welch was victorious in his preliminary match against Alma's Cayden Bell, but then fell to the the seventh seeded Tyler Raway from Augsburg and the thirteenth seed, Nicholas Cook from Roanoke, ending his weekend on Friday.
With their podium placements, Balsiger and Unser increase the program's total number of All-America honors to 23 as UW-Eau Claire finished 29th overall out of 68 teams.
