Decatur, Ill. - The Wheaton wrestling team competed at the 2025 CCIW Wrestling Championships on Saturday in Millikin University's Griswold Center. Wheaton placed ninth in the 10-team field.

North Central repeated as the CCIW Champions with 169 points. The host Big Blue of Millikin University scored 122 points in second place. MSOE placed third with 107 points, Aurora scored 94 points in fourth place and Augustana rounded out the top-five with 72 points. Carthage tallied 68.5 points in sixth place, Elmhurst finished seventh with 59.5 points, Concordia (Wis.) scored 28 points in eighth place, Wheaton was ninth with 27 points and Illinois Wesleyan was 10th with 18.5 points.

Graduate student Jackson Punzel was the top finisher for the Thunder as he placed second at 197-pounds. Punzel, the number-two seed in his weight class opened the day with a victory by fall just 2:22 into his match against Elmhurst's Eugene Lee. Punzel won his second-round match against Illinois Wesleyan's Eli Villegas in a 19-4 technical fall just 2:47 into the contest. Punzel won a 15-0 technical fall at 2:42 of his semifinal match against Augustana's Jacob Badger. 

The win against Badger advanced Punzel to the finals at 197-pounds against top seed Casey Aikman of North Central. Punzel had a takedown in the first minute of the championship match to take a 3-1 lead. Aikman managed an escape as Punzel led 3-1 at the end of the first period. Punzel recorded his second takedown of the match with 38-seconds left in the second period as the Thunder standout led 6-3 after two periods. Aikman tied the match at 6-6 on a takedown with just 1:04 left in the third period. Punzel escaped with 50-seconds left in the match to regain the lead with a 7-6 edge. Just 10-seconds later, Aikman recorded his second takedown of the match with just 40-seconds left to take a his first lead of the match and earn the 9-7 victory.

Wheaton's other participant in a place match in today's tournament was Sean King who advanced to the fifth-place match in the 184-pound weight class. King lost a 10-2 major decision  to Illinois Wesleyan's Bobby Conroy in their opening round match. King won his first match in the consolation bracket with a fall at the 3:52 mark of his match against Millikin's Benicia Martinez. In the next match, King defeated Augustana's Jaxson Hicks in a 21-6 technical fall at the 6:50 mark of their match. In the ensuing match, King again faced Conroy as the Illinois Wesleyan grappler won a 4-2 decision over King to send King to the fifth-place match against Carthage's Devin Rogers. Rogers won an 11-0 major decision over King as the Carthage wrestler placed fifth.

Wheaton returns to action on February 28 at the two-day NCAA Division III Lower Midwest Regional. The NCAA qualification tournament is will be held in Crawfordsville, Indiana on the campus of Wabash College.