Results

Grantham, PA - The Messiah College Falcons won their first MAC Championship as a team with 102.5 points. Three Falcons took First Team All-Conference honors by winning their weight class. No. 6 Lucas Malmberg (125), No. 8 Ricardo Plummer (174), and No. 5 Josh Thomson (184) secured those finishes.
 
This year marks the first MAC Championship since wrestling left the conference in 2006.
 
Six other Falcons placed in the top three of their weight class and were recognized with a medal after the competition. Kyle Coblentz (133, 3rd), Ben Wise (157, 3rd), Stephen Cannon (165, 2nd), Jeremy Bailes (174, 3rd), Ben Kramer (197, 2nd), and Charles Jones (285, 3rd) all took podium honors with their efforts.
 
Three Messiah wrestlers entered the tournament seeded No. 1 and those were the Falcons that won their weight classes.
 
Malmberg made his way to the top with two pins and one major decision. His second pin, in the championship, came in the third period after two tough ones against Guesseppe Rea from Wilkes.
 
Plummer only had to face two opponents in the tournament to win in due to the number of wrestlers entered. His first win was a close 5-3 decision and his second was even closer; a 4-2 win in overtime against Kyle Diesel of Wilkes. Plummer also collected his 100^th career win in his semifinal match.
 
Thomson also only had to face two opponents on the day and his semifinal win came by pin in the first period against Luke Fernandez of Elizabethtown. Thomson then held off a tough Shane Stark from King's to win with a 3-2 decision in the final.
 
Messiah wouldn't have won in the team standings if not for the work of the six other Falcons that placed in the top three of their weight classes. Wise, Cannon, Bailes, and Jones all collected valuable extra points from pins on their way to the podium. Bailes' pin was the fastest of the day between team members at just 57 seconds in the final round.
 
Jason Wright (197) and Andres Gutierrez (141) were two other Messiah wrestlers that secured pins, even though they didn't make the top three. Points have to come from all across the board to win a team championship and the Falcons achieved just that.
 
Even more extra points came from Jason Wright (197), Kramer, and Jones by way of major decision victories over their opponents.
 
Messiah will look to continue their success as they travel to the acclaimed Wheaton Invitational next weekend, Jan. 31 – Feb. 1. 

Below are the team scores from the tournament. Detailed bracket results can be found with the link above. 

1) Messiah 102.5
2) Wilkes 94.5
3) DelVal 93.5
4) E-Town 60.0
5) King's 42.0
6) Lycoming 4.0

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