Grantham, PA – The Messiah College Falcons received a strong showing from three of their underclassmen in a third place finish at the Petrofes Invitational Tournament, a meet the Falcons host annually in Hitchcock Arena.
 
“I'm happy with where we are headed as a program,” head coach Bryan Brunk said of his team's performance this weekend. “I had to pull our guys in after the tournament, let them know that I was happy of the effort they gave out there but not to be satisfied.
 
“I want our guys to know that we want to be a great program not just a good one, and we need to continue to get better. We need to shoot for the moon,” Brunk added.
 
The Falcons, coming off a recent defeat of Mt. Union in the Mt. Union Duals from two weekends ago, took a back seat to the Raiders in this weekend's tournament. The Raiders turned in a second place performance, 14 points ahead of the Falcons, but still well behind sixth-ranked SUNY Cortland, which finished in first.
 
Kaleb Loht, Jason Wright, and Josh Thomson all competed in the Finals of their respective weight classes on the second day of the tournament.
 
Kaleb Loht, a sophomore wrestler for the Falcons, went undefeated on the weekend en route to an individual championship and the title of the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. The honor, given to the wrestler voted by the coaches as the best in the tournament, was Loht's first such honor.
 
Loht captured the individual title in an impressive win over Courtland's Brian Bistis. Bistis, an All-American from a year ago, came into the contest fairly uncontested through the first three rounds.
 
Loht, finding himself down 2-0 early in the match displayed just why he is considered one of the up-and-coming wrestlers in all of Division III wrestling.
 
“Kaleb just didn't get down, or change his style after getting down early,” Brunk said following the tournament. “Sometimes you see guys get down—especially when you're facing the first-ranked wrestler in your class—but Kaleb didn't do that.
 
“He just kept wrestling, staying with our techniques and staying focused during the whole match,” Brunk added.
 
Facing a 2-0 deficit late in the first period, Loht would rebound to tie the match at two each. Headed into the second, the match was still much of the same, back-and-forth as neither competitor wanted to give the other an edge. Two points by each wrestler in the second frame set up a tense, exciting third period.
 
As Loht previously had succeeded in doing to tie the score after falling down 2-0, the sophomore played off an attack from Bistis to counter and score two points for a takedown late in the bout.
 
Two freshmen, Jason Wright and Josh Thomson, both had chances at an individual tournament in this weekend's tournament.
 
Wright battled hard through the weekend's 197 lb. bouts, impressing from the start in his first match. Wright drew a match against the first-seeded Matthew Transue from Wilkes University in the First Round. Wright took a 5-3 decision over his counterpart advancing on to stay unbeaten, shocking a competitive field of wrestlers. Wright followed his opening round win with two more- both by way of fall in a combined 7:38.
 
In the championship bout, Wright needed to come from behind, much like Loht, to secure a victory. Down 1-0 after a second period escape from Mt. Union's Nick Rajcsak, Wright used an escape of his own late in the third to tie the match and send it into extra time.
 
The freshman would capitalize early in the extra period, reversing on an attack from Rajcsak for a take down just 28 seconds into the frame, essentially ending the match and securing the title.
 
“Jason's a guy I knew could wrestle coming into the season—he's big, strong, and athletic,” Brunk said of the freshman. “We didn't know where he was going to be technique-wise, but he got the job done today."
 
In the 184 lb. class, fellow freshman Josh Thomson barreled through his bracket with a win by fall and a major decision to be matched up against first-seeded Will Parks from Cortland.
 
Thomson fought hard for the entire match, taking an early 1-0 lead into the second. An escape from Parks late in the second and a take down quickly followed putting Thomson in a hole 3-1 headed into the final frame.
 
Parks secured plenty of ride time throughout the frame, keeping Thomson, who was in the bottom position, from getting loose until late in the period. An escape late in the period inched Thomson closer, but time was not of the essence and a last ditch effort came up short.
 
“I don't know that I have had a freshman winner in this tournament in my 10 years here,” coach Brunk said of his young wrestlers competing for the individual titles. “To have two guys competing in the finals and for one to win, that's just impressive.”

Other notable finishes for the Falcons included Chris Williamson's third-place finish at 149 lbs and Ricardo Plummer's and Steve Cannon's third and fourth place finishes at 174 lbs. Plummer and Cannon faced off in the third place bout with Plummer taking the decision 7-3.

The Falcons will get a chance to compete as a team next Friday, Dec. 7 as they head to nearby York College to take on the Spartans in a dual meet. The meet is scheduled for 7 p.m. Messiah currently holds a duals record of 4-0 on the year.