West Liberty, W. Va. – After a long season of tournament play, the Wheeling University Wrestling team headed up the hill for the 2023 Mountain East Conference Wrestling Championships. The team sent five wrestlers to the event, the most that have participated since the program was reinstated in 2020-21 and had a strong day on the mat. They had two fourth place finishes as Head Coach Shane Brown was pleased with the way his guys competed throughout the day.

The first fourth place finisher on the day was freshman Caden Canning in the 141 pound weight class. He began his day with a forfeit victory in the first round that would move him on to the Quarterfinals, where he faced West Liberty's Khyvon Grace. He would end up losing a technical fall (16-1) and dropping to the consolation bracket. He would get his first win of the day in the next match against Glenville State's Cam Barr. He picked up a Major Decision with a 14-0 win and moved into the third place match against Fairmont State's Caleb Everhart. It was a close battle throughout, but Canning would end up falling in a 3-0 decision and taking home fourth place in the event. It was Canning's best individual performance of the season and gives him positives to build on as he moves through the season.

The other fourth place finisher for the Cardinals was sophomore Zach Kuneff, who was also competing in his first conference championship event. In his first match of the night, he would take on the reigning 285-pound champion from 2022 in West Liberty's Francesco Borsellino. Kuneff battled throughout the match, but would end up getting pinned at the 4:59 mark to move over to the consolation bracket. Kuneff would receive a bye and then earn a forfeit victory over Alderson Broaddus's Demetrius Daniels to move into the third place match. He would go against Notre Dame College's La'Ron Parks and fell in a 9-3 decision to end his day. The two fourth place finishes were the highest finishes by a Cardinal since the 2018-19 season as the program continues to grow.

The other Cardinal to pick up a win on the day was sophomore Mason Kuneff in the 184-pound weight class. He would begin his day taking on Alderson Broaddus's Ashton Miller and picked up a pinfall at the 1:44 mark. He was facing off with West Liberty's Ty McGeary in the Quarterfinals and unfortunately suffered an injury at the 4:16 mark of the match. It would unfortunately end Kuneff's day as he would go 1-1 in his first MEC Championship event. Joshua Sharron (149) and River Pappas (165) we're the final two wrestlers for the Cardinals and they both went 0-2 in their two matches. Pappas would fall in an 11-2 major Decision before receiving a bye and having an injury forfeit in the consolation bracket. Sharron dropped two decisions on the day to end his first conference championship run.

Head Coach Shane Brown was happy with the way his guys competed throughout the day and is looking forward to using that for the rest of the season.

"The guys went out and wrestled great. Sadly we had a few injuries cut the tournament short for a few of our wrestlers," said Brown. "But all in all I would say that they all went out and wrestled a great tournament. They all showed a lot of growth and it gives us a great look at where we are and where we want to be for the rest of the year."

The Wheeling Wrestling team will return to action on Sunday, February 5th, when they take on the Whizzer Open Tournament.