ADRIAN, MICH. -- The Trine University men's wrestling team placed fourth at the Adrian (Mich.) College Invitational in Adrian, Mich.
The Thunder ended the afternoon with a team total of 115.5 points to place fourth of four teams. Host school Adrian captured the event with a total of 159 points. Thomas More (Ky.) University was second with 134.5 points and Indiana Tech was third at 121.5 points.
Trine had eight wrestlers place in their respective weight classes led by a second-place showing by junior Owen Conklin (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) in the 165-pound backet. Freshmen Jett Boots (Angola, Ind./Angola) and Jacob Jackson (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Central Catholic) finished third in the 125-pound and 285-pound brackets. Freshman Joseph Langeman (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), senior Nevan Freestone (Frankfort, Ind./Clinton Prairie) and freshman Isaac Hawkins all placed fourth in their brackets. Senior Cordell Camp (Waterloo, Ind./Garrett) was sixth at 184 pounds and sophomore Matthew Abraham placed seventh at 285 pounds.
After a pair of byes, Conklin won his first two matches starting with a pin against Adrian's Devin Top in a time of 2:35. He then followed up with a technical fall against Trenton DiGenova, also from Adrian, by a 16-0 shutout. Conklin then went on to face Adrian's Derick Duvall in the championship match, but fell by a 12-7 decision to grab runner-up standing.
Boots captured his first matchup at 125 pounds by a 5-0 decision against Shay Horton of Thomas More. In his next match, Boots was edged by Nathan Orum of Indiana Tech by a 2-1 margin and went on to record a pin in his first bout of the consolation bracket defeating Josh Miller of Adrian in a time of 2:20. Boots then faced Horton in a rematch for third place and won his second match of the day against Horton, this time by a 10-2 major decision.
Jackson posted a pin to start his tournament at 285 pounds for a win against Adrian's Bryce Briggs, before being pinned by Adrian's Isaiah Espinoza. Jackson then captured his next two matches all by pinfalls, starting with Joe Wahl of Thomas More in a time of 3:51. He then defeated Mason Slocum of Adrian in just over two minutes (2:06) to take third place.
In the 133-pound bracket, Langeman suffered a defeat in his first match, but then won his next two, both by major decision, to advance to the third-place bout. He defeated Seth Lutes from Thomas More by a 13-2 margin and Jordan Hoselton, also from TMU, by a score of 12-3. Langeman took on Adrian's Tanner Smith for third place where Langeman was defeated by a close 8-4 decision to put him in fourth place.
Freestone competed at 149 pounds and began the day with a pin against Garrett Galinski from Adrian in a time of 1:53. He was then defeated by pin in his next match to drop to the consolation portion where he picked up a 9-3 victory against TMU's Cameron Baird. In the third-place bout, Freestone was defeated by Corey Cavanaugh from Indiana Tech by a margin of 10-0 to take fourth place overall.
Hawkins placed fourth in the 157-pound bracket which began with a pin against Adrian's Isaac Ramirez in a time of 4:26. After suffering a tech fall in his next match, Hawkins worked his way to the third-place match via a 15-7 major decision against Macaiah White of Indiana Tech and then a pin against Colton Kanyon from Adrian (1:32). Hawkins then captured his next bout by medical forfeit before advancing to take on Ethan Garcia for third place. In his final match, Hawkins fell just short by a 7-3 decision to claim fourth.
After falling, 7-3, in his first matchup at 184 pounds, Camp rallied to defeat Indiana Tech's Chandler Updike by pin in a time of 6:22. Camp then fell in his next bout by a final of 5-2 and set up a matchup against Juwan Vines from Adrian for fifth place. Vines would end up capturing the match by pin in a time of 2:49 which put Camp in sixth place overall.
In addition to Jackson placing in the heavy weight division, Abraham finished sixth in the same weight class. Abraham got off to an excellent start, defeating Indiana Tech's Jevonte Williams by pin in a time of 2:31. After suffering a defeat in his next match, Abraham rallied with his second pin of the day, this time against Thomas More's Tyler Kassinger in 3:23. Abraham was then defeated in his next match, but then ended the tournament on a high note with another pinfall. He came away with a victory against Aaron Sharp of Thomas More in a time of 3:28 to take seventh place.
Trine is not scheduled to compete again until Jan. 30 for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Individual Tournament. Location and start time are still to be determined.