ADA, OHIO -- The Trine University wrestling team competed in the annual Ohio Northern University Invitational and placed ninth overall in Ada, Ohio.
The Thunder finished with a team score of 74 points to place ninth out of 13 teams. Tiffin (Ohio) University finished first in the team standings with 200 points and host school Ohio Northern was second at 151 points. Heidelberg (Ohio) University was third at 149.5 points.
Individually, Trine had four wrestlers place in their respective weight classes, including two top-five finishes by senior Luke Carver (Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis) and freshman Anthony Eberle (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll). Carver recorded the top finish of third place at 197 pounds and posted a 4-1 mark that included a pin and a pair of tech falls. After receiving a "bye" in his first round, Carver then recorded a major decision victory against Tiffin's Nicholas Smythe, 11-1, to advance to take on Legge Shannon of Defiance (Ohio) College where he recorded his first tech fall victory by a final of 16-1. Carver fell in his next match to drop to the consolation bracket where he captured his next two bouts to take third place. In a rematch of his first victory of the day against Smythe, Carver defeated him for a second time, this time by pinfall, and then defeated Crebs Gable of Lycoming (Pa.) College by tech fall, 18-0, to earn third place.
Eberle placed fourth in the 125-pound bracket and pinned ONU's Jacob Hamad for his first win of the day but would later fall to the consolation bracket where he worked his way to the third-place bout by facing Hamad again and won by the same result, a pin, to get to the third place match against Austin Wieczorek of Alma (Mich.) College. Eberle suffered a tech fall defeat in his match against Wieczorek to place fourth overall.
Freshman Matthew Abraham (Seven Hills, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) placed sixth at 197 pounds despite falling to the consolation bracket after receiving an opening round "bye." Abraham then recorded four straight victories that began with a pin against teammate Alejandro Lopez in a time of 1:02. He then advanced by medical forfeit in his next matchup and then faced Luke Hess from Otterbein (Ohio) University and won by a 6-5 decision. Following the win, Abraham moved on to face Mason Morris of Defiance and won by a 9-1 major decision before falling to Adrian (Mich.) College's Donald Moses by a 7-3 decision. In the match for fifth place, Abraham fell, 11-0, against Adrian's Michael Jacobs to finish in sixth place overall.
The final Trine wrestler to place in his individual weight class was senior Zach Saylor (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) who finished eighth at 285 pounds. Saylor won his first two matches of the championship bracket with a pin against Warren Russell of Lycoming and a 4-2 decision against Chris Martinez of Otterbein before suffering a defeat to fall to the consolation bracket. In Saylor's first matchup of the consolation bracket, he won by a 2-1 decision against Defiance's Wesley Bok, but would then be pinned by Eric Adkins of Heidelberg to set up a matchup against Heidelberg's Gabriel Martinez for seventh place. Martinez recorded a late pin against Abraham at the 6:04 mark to give Abraham an eighth-place showing.
Trine will return to the mat on Sunday, Dec. 22 when the Thunder travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to take part in the Desert Duals hosted by Wartburg (Iowa) College. Trine is scheduled to take on host Wartburg in its first dual of the day at 9 a.m.