Wayne State College wrestlers took home third place out of 12 teams on Saturday at the Winona Invite in Winona, Minn.

The invite featured two top NCAA Division III teams in Augsburg College and Luther College, which were the two teams that placed ahead of the Wildcats.

“I thought we competed extremely well,” Head Coach Gregory Vander Weil said. “We saw a good level of competition and we responded really good.”

Co-captain Devon Rupp, 149-pound senior, went 4-0 on the day, winning the 149-pound weight class championship. Rupp won by decision 10-7 over Bryce Lanhart of the University of Minnesota-Duluth in round 2, pin fall over Alex Wilson of Augsburg in round 3, Hunter Weiss of WSC in round 4, and by decision 5-0 over Luke Finnel of UW-Madison Wrestling Club.

Nick Gonzalez, 133-pound sophomore, also won his weight class, winning by decision over Cody Hanson of Luther College 8-6 and Tyler Menegay of Luther College 9-8.

Other WSC wrestlers placing in the top four at the invite were 125-pound freshman Tommy Nelson (3rd), 141-pound freshman Ethan Fitzler (4th), 149-pound Hunter Weiss (4th), 165-pound sophomore Caleb Thomas (4th), 174-pound Gerald Kenkel (4th) and 184-pound junior Spencer Trout (4th).

Augsburg College won the meet with 129.5 total points and was followed by Luther College (95.5), Wayne State College (67.5), Iowa State University Wrestling Club (34.5), University of Minnesota-Duluth (17.0), Winona State University Wrestling team (16.5), Missouri University of Science and Tech (13.5), UW-Madison Wrestling Club (13.0), University of Iowa Wrestling club (10.5) and Minnesota State Makato, RCTC and UW-Eau Claire each with 0.0.

“Coach Schutt has the team ready for the post season,” Vander Weil said. “His excellent technique and conditioning practices make us a top contender.”

Up next for the Wildcats wrestlers is the Great Plains Conference National Qualifier on Feb. 25 at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colo.