From Unversity of Chicago Athletics

University of Chicago's wrestling program is back on top of the University Athletic Association's (UAA) heap after securing the 2023 UAA Wrestling Championship on Saturday inside the Ratner Athletics Center.

The Maroons, in winning their first UAA title since 2019, outlasted Case Western Reserve and New York University in a highly competitive UAA conference meet in their home gym. UChicago's Ryan Fleck notched a major decision victory in the final bout of the day which proved the difference as the Maroons finished with 141 points to NYU's 138. CWRU finished third with 36 points.

From Head Coach Leo Kocher: "It was a pretty wild championship. Last year, NYU and Chicago split on champions five and five. But NYU's non-champion placers and bonus-point victories gave them the team title. Today NYU finished with six champions to our four, but Chicago's other 11 competitors also wrestled great to give us a narrow team win. Our champions did a terrific job – but virtually every member of the team covered our three-point margin of victory. NYU has a powerful program. Our guys put in a great effort that was rewarded." 

Fleck (149#) cruised to four victories on the day to secure his UAA title with pins at 1:23 and 2:54 in his first two matchups. He followed that with two major decisions in his final two bouts, scoring bonus points for UChicago in all four. Jake Hamulak (125#) was also crowned UAA champion, pinning all three of his opponents in 3:00, 5:52 and 2:01, respectively.

Joining Hamulak and Fleck as UAA champion was Darian Estevez (165#), whom also earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler honors. Estevez pinned his first opponent in 5:47 before grinding out a tense 2-1 victory over NYU to secure the top spot. Rounding out UChicago's UAA champions was Gunnar Garriques (197#). Garriques pinned all three of his opponents in impressive fashion with times of 1:25, 1:40 and 1:53.