Findlay, OH. – After competing in two straight dual meets, the Wheeling University Wrestling team (2-0) was back in the tournament field on Saturday. The Cardinals continued their success on the mat to start the season with two placers leading the way against the top talent in the region. Both of those wrestlers would finish in the top six of their respective weight classes, continuing the momentum from their dual meet action.
Leading the way for the second tournament in a row was Redshirt junior Gavin Harper, who finished fourth in the 285lb weight class. He would face a challenging road to start the day as he battled #15 Dylan McCandless from Tiffin University. He answered the call with a 17-2 tech fall victory as he advanced to round two. There, he would earn his second tech fall win of the day over Belmont Abbey's Nathan Carnes and he would head to his second ranked match of the day. It would come against #9 Wyatt Bailey and Harper would earn the upset with a 6-1 decision as he pushed his winning streak to nine straight matches. It would come to an end in the semifinal round, where Harper was pinned at the 5:12 mark, and his night would come to an end in the third place match where he dropped a 10-0 Major Decision to UW Parkside's Cooper Caraway to round out the day. He would take fourth in his weight class and the effort moved his season record to 9-2 through 11 matches.
The other Cardinal to place on the day was freshman Neal Krysty, who would finish sixth overall in the 125lb weight class. He would drop his first match in a 12-3 Major Decision, but hit a run in the consolation bracket. He would earn three straight pinfall victories, with his fastest coming at the 1:10 mark against Bellarmine's Joe Calvin. He kept the success going with a 13-11 Major Decision over Indiana Tech's Tyler Hisey and advanced to the consolation semifinal match. He would earn a no contest over Belmont Abbey's Zach Bergman to move him to the fifth place match. He would meet host Findlay's Billy Smith and he would fall in a No Contest to end the night. Krysty would finish the day going 6-2 and upping his record to 12-4 on the season as he leads the Cardinals in wins this season.
Following Krysty was Jack Dinwiddie in the 141 pound weight class, where he finished 2-2 and scored 3.0 points for his team. He would start the day strong, with a 12-8 decision over Grand Valley State's Brady Vogt, and followed that up with a pinfall against William DeLuca Stewart, and he would advance to the second round of the championship bracket. He would drop the final two matches of the night to finish 2-2. Mannix Wasco would follow behind him in the 149lb weight class, and finished with 6.5 points in the effort. Wasco would earn a Major Decision victory to start the night, and followed that with a pinfall. After moving to the consolation bracket, Wasco would pick up his second pin of the day against Thomas More's Hashim Wordlaw and he would finish his day at 3-2.
The final point scorer for the Cardinals on the night was Jaxon Burcher, wrestling in the 197lb weight class. He would fall in his opening match, but bounced back with a 4-2 decision over Bellarmine's Cameron Vinson, and followed that up with a 6-3 decision over Grand Valley State's Bernard Harrsion. He would finish 2-2 on the day to round out the Cardinal winners in the effort. Hunter Browning, George Croy, Bo Hernstein, Tucket Steiner, Frank Aquila, and Vincint Sefic would each compete to round out the day, finishing with 0-2 records on the day.
The Wheeling University Wrestling team returns to action on Friday, December 5th, when they wrestle at the Fairmont State Quad Meet with first matches at 9 AM.
