ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's wrestling team had six members place on their home mats during the 2024 Mid-States Invitational. Andrew Captain headlined the group with a third-place finish in at heavy weight.
Captain's day started on the wrong foot, as he dropped his opening match by pin. After a bye, he rattled off five straight victories to reach the third-place match. Along the way he had three decisions and a pin in his wins. In the final match of the day, he secured his second pin to capture a podium finish.
Philip Burney had the second-best finish of the competition for the Thunder. He finished fourth in the 157 pound bracket. Burney won his first two matches, one by pin and the other a 5-1 decision, to reach the quarterfinal round of the bracket. He lost a 7-6 decision in that match to fall to the consolation side of the day. He rattled off three more wins, twice by pin and once by tech fall, to reach the third-place match. Out of matches he finished the day in fourth.
Ethan Nash finished fifth in the 165 pound bracket. He dropped his first match of the day and then received a bye in the opening round of the consolation bracket. Nash then put together four wins in a row including a pin, two major decisions and a decision. In the semifinals of the consolation bracket he fell by decision but then won the fifth-place match to secure the finish.
In the 174 pound bracket the team had another placer with Gavin Malone finishing in sixth. Malone started the day with a pin before being defeated in the quarterfinal round to fall to the consolation bracket. He recorded two more pins to reach the semifinal rounds of the consolation bracket before losing his final two matches to fall to sixth.
Two members of the Thunder finished eighth to round out the top finishes for the team. Ben Edwards at 133 and Austin Crowder at 157 both reached the seventh-place match before falling to eighth.
Members of the team will next take the mats when they travel to the NCAA Central Regional hosted by Ohio Northern University. The two day event begins on Friday, March 1.