OLIVET, Mich. - The Trine University wrestling team competed at the Olivet Comet Duals where they dropped three matches on the day, including two to nationally ranked teams. Trine opened with a 42-6 loss to No. 6 Wisconsin-La Crosse. The Thunder then faced Heidelberg where they fell 35-10. Trine closed out their day facing 10th ranked Ohio Northern University but fell in their closest match of the day 25-12.
The Thunder were led by senior Ryan Pieper (Onsted, Mich./Onsted). Pieper, the 7th ranked wrestler at 174 pounds won his opening match over 15th ranked Grant Miller from Wis.-La Crosse 3-1 in overtime. Pieper followed that up with a 10-2 victory over Andrew Leis of Heidelberg. In his final match of the day, Pieper faced another nationally ranked opponent in defending national champion, No. 1 Kyle Kwiat of Ohio Northern. Pieper put up a fight but fell in a tough 8-5 match.
Sophomore Brandon Preston (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) also had an outstanding day, going 2-1. Preston opened the day defeating Izzy Balsiger of Wis.-La Crosse 3-2 in the 125 pound class. Preston moved up to 133 for his second match, but fell, before returning to 125lbs for his final match of the day where he defeated Jerome Pasquale of Ohio Northern 6-1.
Also going 2-1 in the heavyweight division for the Thunder was sophomore Mack Green (Buchanan, Mich./Buchanan). Green’s lone loss of the day came in his opening match to 3rd ranked Billy Mayer. Green would pin Jesse Villers of Heidelberg at 3:27 of their match. In the final match of the day Green picked up a shutout over Kody Bellamy of Ohio Northern 6-0.
At 149lbs, freshman Jon Blanton (Alexandria, Ind./Alexandria) picked up a win over Ryan Fowler of Ohio Northern in a 7-3 victory. Blanton also fell to 10th ranked Andrew Johnson of Heidelberg.
Freshman Nick Ader (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) followed Blanton’s path as he also picked up a 6-0 win over Nathan Grieser Ohio Northern at 133 pounds. Ader moved up to the 141 weight class against Heidelberg but fell to 20th ranked Chris Osborne.
The team will take a couple of weeks off before returning to action at the two-day Indiana Little State Open in Indianapolis beginning December 1.