Wheeling, W. Va. – On Sunday, the Wheeling University Wrestling team opened their invitational schedule at the Mount Union Invitational. On Wednesday, the team will officially begin Mountain East Conference (MEC) play when they begin the dual meet portion of the schedule. They travel to Frostburg State on Wednesday, with matches beginning at 6 PM as they look to build on their early season momentum.
On Sunday, the Cardinals opened up the year at the Mount Union Invitational, traveling with their biggest roster since the rebirth of the program. The Cardinals had 10 different wrestlers competing across seven different weight classes. As a team, the Cardinals would finish seventh out of the ten teams in competition, scoring 42.5 points. Individually, the Cardinals had four of their 10 competitors place at the event, with two of those four landing in the top six of their respective weight classes and one making it to the championship match. Among the wins were three pinfalls as the Cardinals look to build off the foundation the team has built over the last two seasons and start to climb the MEC ladder.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Austin Hinzman, who finished second in the 197 pound weight class. He would finish 2-1 on the day, and got the chance to face two of West Liberty's top wrestlers at the event. After taking on Ohio Northern's Britton Sorenson and getting a pin in 31 seconds, Hinzman would face his first MEC opponent in West Liberty's Luke Justice. It was a battle between the two rival schools, but Hinzman edged out a 3-2 decision to advance to the championship match. There, he would face West Liberty's Devon Bell, and had the advantage leading after the first round. However, at the 3:47 mark, Bell would earn the pinfall as Hinzman took the second place spot to round out the day. After missing all of last season, Hinzman looks to build off a strong start and lead the 197lb class.
The other Cardinals to place in the top six of his weight class was sophomore Brian Crevar at 167. He would finish tied for the team lead in wins on the day, finishing 3-3, and earning sixth place overall. Crevar got a lot of experience as a freshman, picking up six wins and got half of that total from the get-go. He picked up his second career Major Decision to go along with two decisions to round out a strong day. The other two Cardinals to place were Isaac Valdez and Zach Kuneff in the 174lb and 285lb weight class respectively. Valdez would take 7th overall and, after dropping his first match of the night, bounced back to finish 2-2. Kuneff tied with Crevar for the team lead in wins, going 3-3 including a pinfall victory over Jonathan Cox from Southern Virginia.
After playing a schedule of almost exclusively tournaments over the last two seasons, the Cardinals are welcoming back a full slate of dual meets in 2024-2025. It begins on Wednesday against Frostburg State, with the schedule featuring six dual meets. Of those six meets, three come before the winter break, including a home dual against WVU Tech on December 6th. Wednesday will also mark the first time since the program's revival that they will have a full 10-man starting lineup since the 2019 season before the program went on hiatus. Head Coach Shane Brown is excited to bring dual meets back to campus and wants to rebuild the tradition of packed gyms that the program had prior to the hiatus.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Bobcats will be meeting for the second time in program history in dual meet action, with Frostburg State leading the all-time series at 1-0. Wheeling will travel to Bobcat Arena for the first time in program history and is looking to get revenge after last year's dual meet loss. The Cardinals scored 13 points as a team the first time around and with a deeper and more talented roster this year, they will be looking to build on that effort as they open MEC play.
Last season, Frostburg State came to Wheeling and picked up a 38-13 win inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. Wheeling picked up two wins on the night and would go 2-3 across the five matches they wrestled. The two Cardinal wins would come from former Cardinal Brennon Reid, who picked up a pinfall victory in the 174lb weight class, and former Cardinal Alex Finsley, who won an 11-8 division at 184 to round out the night.
The Details
The first match of the night for Wednesday night's dual meet is scheduled for 7 PM inside Bobcat Arena. You can watch the dual meet live by clicking HERE.
