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GRANTHAM, Pa. – The annual Messiah Open took place today in Hitchcock Arena, and the No. 10 Falcons earned five placewinners, including Victor DeFrance who took third at 184. The Falcons had 12 wrestlers competing in the open tourney.
 
Ka'au Estrella (133), Matt Darok (141), Lee Cassel (149), and David Stevens (174) also finished in the top eight of their respective classes.
 
"I thought we wrestled really hard today, and we wrestled well," said Messiah head coach Bryan Brunk, who went on to praise his team for responding strongly after losing a dual to York last night. "Losing last night was a downer, and sometimes you're not sure how you're going to respond after a tough loss. But our guys responded well, and their heads were in it today.
 
"We wanted today's tournament to be like a national championship for our backups, and we want them to peak and wrestle their best, and we saw a lot of that today."
 
The five placewinners highlighted Messiah's day, and DeFrance's effort at 184 was both the best of the day and special enough to catch Brunk's attention.
 
"(Victor) is a bit worn down, and he had a tough semifinal loss," said Brunk, commenting on DeFrance's hard-fought 9-7 loss to Patrick Gerish of Maryland. "He responded really well, and sprinted out to get a pin for third place. He was mentally tough."
 
Matthew Darok, who finished fifth at 141, also shined as his 4-2 record today pushed his season's mark to 17-16—an impressive improvement from his 1-8 mark two years ago.
 
"Matt wrestled the best of his career today," said Brunk. "To go from one win to 15 or more wins in two years is great to see. We have a lot of young guys who performed well today, and it's great to see because they're a part of our future."
 
True to Brunk's note, 11 of Messiah's 12 wrestlers from today are underclassmen, including freshmen Estrella and Stevens who placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Messiah's lone senior from today was Dan Kiser and he, like Darok, finished the year with a winning record (15-14).
 
"Today's tournament is about the future," said Brunk. "So to have two freshmen and three juniors placing, we are right to be excited about the future."
 
Messiah will next wrestle on Friday, Feb. 9 when they host Elizabethtown in a dual match.

 

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