Wrestling Begins Season With Pair of Tournaments

Wrestling Begins Season With Pair of Tournaments

ANGOLA, IND.  --  The Trine University wrestling team got its 2018-19 season underway with a pair of events with the Ben McMullen Open hosted by Muskegon Community College in Muskegon, Mich. and the Michigan State University Open in East Lansing, Mich.  Both events were unscored.

At the McMullen Open, sophomore Nevan Freestone (Frankfort, Ind./Clinton Prairie) worked his way to the fifth place bout in the 149-pound weight class and ended the day with a 1-3 mark.  After receiving a "bye" in his first round, Freestone defeated Nick Martini of Grand Valley State (Mich.) University by pinfall in a time of 2:56.  In his next match, he was defeated by major decision by Hunter Murphy of Olivet (Mich.) College.  Freestone then lost his next two matches by tech fall (18-3) and decision (5-4) to Jaycob Bechtol of Muskegon C.C. in the fifth-place match.

Freshman Drake Hiltunen (Algonac, Mich./Algonac) competed in the 157-pound bracket, but would start his collegiate career with a 0-2 record after being pinned by Niagra Community College's Anthony Bell in a time of 2:58 and then lost his next match by a 6-3 decision to Christopher Gonzalez of Joliet Junior College.  

Trine had two competitors compete at 165 pounds in freshmen Owen Conklin (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) and Jordyn Wills (Kennard, Ind./Eastern Hancock).  Conklin began the day 2-0 following a pin in his first match and then a win by medical forfeit.  His next two matches ended in a 13-7 loss and a 10-9 loss to find himself in the fifth-place match which he won by forfeit to finish the event with a 3-2 record.  Wills fell on the losing end of a pin (1:47) in his first match of the tournament and then fell to Scott Amaya of Rochester (Mich.) College.

The Thunder also had a pair of wrestlers compete in the 174-pound weight class in sophomore Efrain Amezquita (Twelve Mile, Ind./Caston) and freshman Franklin Ulrich (Lansing, Mich./Maple Valley).  Amezquita got off to a positive start with a pin (3:35) in his first match, but then lost his next match by pin to fall to the consolation side of the bracket.  In his third matchup of the day, Amezquita fell by pin to Lucas Brewer of Alma (Mich.) College to end the tournament with a 1-2 record.  Ulrich finished his first collegiate event with a 0-2 record following a 10-1 major decision loss in his first bout and then dropped a 6-1 decision in his next match.

Sophomore Sam Burge (Niles, Mich./Niles-Brandywine) competed against Alma's Dylan Seaton in his first match at 184 pounds, but fell by a 4-2 decision.  Burge rebounded with a 4-1 decision win in his next matchup and then followed with a pin (2:42) against Jose Diaz of Triton College.  But his run ended in his next bout via a pinfall to Leo West from Alma to end the tournament with a 2-2 record.  Freshman Jacob Andrina (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) also competed alongside Burge, but finished 0-2 on the day with a loss by tech fall (16-0) in his first match and was pinned in a time of 1:38 in his next match.

At 197 pounds, freshman Brent Booth (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow) received a first-round bye and then got his first collegiate victory via a pin against Joel Swanson from Joliet Junior College in a time of 2:14.  Booth then dropped his next three matches, included a 5-3 decision in the fifth-place match against Peyton Kobel from MCC.

Three wrestlers competed at 285 pounds in junior Zach Saylor (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) and sophomores Jacob Garrett (Colfax, Ind./Clinton Prairie) and Ethan Simmons (Scotts, Mich./Climax-Scotts).  All three got off to a rough start by losing their first-round matches.  Saylor then tallied back-to-back wins by decision before being pinned in his final match of the tournament and finished with a 2-3 mark.  Simmons rebounded from his early defeat with three straight pins before being pinned himself to end the event with a 3-2 record.  Garrett finished 0-2 overall following a loss by decision (3-2) to Talvin Gibson from Triton in his first match of the consolation bracket.

Trine had two wrestlers travel to East Lansing, Mich. to compete in the MSU Open in senior Caleb Maddox (Russiaville, Ind./Western) and junior Luke Carver (Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis).  

Maddox competed at 141 pounds and received a first-round bye.  He then went up against Drew Marten from Divsion I Central Michigan University where he fell on the losing end of a 9-4 decision.  In his first match of the consolation bracket, Maddox fell to Anthony Cheloni of Northern Illinois University by pinfall (1:30).

Carver wrestled Jelani Embree from the University of Michigan in his first match at 184 pounds, but fell by tech fall, 19-0.  Carver then took on Andrew Scott of Northern Illinois in the consolation bracket where he was defeated by Scott by tech fall, 17-0.

Up next for Trine will be the Trine Invitational next Saturday, Nov. 10 in Angola, Ind.  The all day event is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.