EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Nov. 22, 2025) - The Buena Vista men's wrestling team landed a pair of third-place finishes and five others that were in the top-6 to help highlight the day for the Beavers during the 8-Man Battles, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Senior Tyler Japp (125lbs) and freshman Ben Bouaphakeo (149lbs) highlighted the day with their third-place efforts. Japp began with a strong 25-8 technical fall in the quarterfinal round, and after dropping a 14-7 decision, he came back in the third-place match and notched a 10-3 decision. Bouaphakeo started with a 21-5 technical fall in the preliminary round and followed that up with a thrilling 12-11 victory over Saint John's Dominic Smith. He bounced back from a tough loss in the semifinals to secure a strong 16-4 major decision and end the day with a team-leading 13.5 points while evening his season record at 5-5.

Junior LaTravion Agu came in fourth for the Beavers after recording a fall in his quarterfinal match and then being edged in back-to-back two-point decisions in the next two rounds. Luis Salazar picked up a hard fought 4-1 decision in his quarterfinal match that led to his fourth-place finish.

Cameron Campos and Aiden Kirk each won multiple matches on the day and came in sixth.

As a team, Buena Vista chalked up 79.5 points on the day and placed sixth among the seven teams but was only eight points out of fourth. UW-Eau Claire racked up 181 points to win the team title with Saint John's (101) taking second.

Buena Vista returns to the mat on Thursday, Dec. 4, when they travel to Coe College for an American Rivers Conference dual against the Kohawks starting at 7 p.m.