CRAWFORDSVILLE, IND. -- The Trine University wrestling team competed in the annual Mid-States Invitational hosted by Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind.
As a team, the Thunder finished in ninth place with a total of 43.5 points. Host school Wabash ended the event as the overall team champion with 167 points. Olivet (Mich.) College was second at 111 points and Alma (Mich.) College was third with 108 points.
Individually, Trine had mulitple competitors place in their respective weight classes, led by the performance of junior Riley Rasler (LaGrange, Ind./Prairie Heights) who finished third overall in the 149-pound bracket and posted a 5-1 record on the afternoon. Rasler began his day with a bye before defeating Kyle Holman from Wabash by a 5-2 decision. After suffering a defeat in his next match to drop to the consolation portion of the bracket, Rasler captured his next four bouts to finish third. He won his final two matches via a pair of shutout tech falls against Defiance (Ohio) College's Cortez Bradley (15-0) and Jarrett Thorne from Olivet (Mich.) College (19-0) in his third-place matchup. Earlier in the bracket, he recorded a pin against Stevan Najeeb of Manchester University in a time of 2:38 and his other victory was a 3-1 decision against Holman for his second individual win against his opponent from Wabash.
The Thunder had a pair of wrestlers place in the top-eight in the 285-pound bracket with junior Jacob Garrett (Colfax, Ind./Clinton Prairie) finishing sixth and senior Zach Saylor (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) was seventh. Garrett won his first match of the tournament by a 3-0 decision against Desmond Harrell from Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) University. Garrett fell in his next match, but rebounded with a pair of victories by 5-0 and 3-2 decisions before another loss sent Garrett to the fifth-place bout where he faced Matt Melcher from Wabash. Against Melcher, Garrett was defeated, 5-3 to finish sixth overall. For Saylor, he also began the tournament with a win by decision (3-1) against Nico Torres of Manchester. Saylor fell in a close decision in his next matchup and then captured his next matchup by an 8-2 outcome against Ohio Northern University's Cole Mefford. In his next match, Saylor was defeated, 4-0, to set up a matchup against Zak Hughey of Mount St. Joseph for seventh place. Saylor and Hughey went the distance in the match and needed extra time where Saylor came out as the victor with a 2-1 sudden victory to capture seventh place.
The other remaining place holders were freshman Matthew Abraham (Seven Hills, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) at 197-pounds and junior Dominic Pecoraro (Indianapolis, Ind./Carmel) in the 133-pound bracket. Abraham ended up finishing seventh in his bracket and Pecoraro was seventh.
Pecoraro fell in his first match, but then won his next bout by a 7-4 margin against Kaden Darbro of Mount St. Joseph. Pecoraro lost his ensuing match against MSJ's Tariq Hornbuckle to set up a match against Rodney Hendricks of Wabash for seventh place. Pecoraro was defeated by Hendricks by pin in a time of 1:05 to finish the bracket in eighth place.
Abraham was one of four Trine wrestlers to compete in the 197-pound bracket and started off with a 6-1 decision before dropping to the consolation bracket by way of a major decision. Abraham then recorded a 16-0 tech fall against Mason Morris of Defiance to continue his afternoon, but then fell by major decision and found himself paired against Wabash's Cameron Bacon for seventh place. Abraham finished as the winner of the seventh-place matchup due to forfeit and ended the tournament with a 3-2 mark.
Trine will travel to Adrian, Mich. in two weeks for the NCAA Division III Central Regional Meet on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 28-29 with Adrian College serving as host. The start time for each day is still TBA.
