GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah wrestling team hosted the annual Messiah Open on Saturday afternoon in Hitchcock Arena. The Falcons had six wrestlers earn top-eight finishes in their respective weight classes with
Tim Eddinger leading the way with a fourth-place finish in the 174 lbs. weight class.
In addition to Eddinger's fourth-place finish,
Caiden Heller (125 lbs.),
Clay Gainer (149 lbs.), and Sawyer Dereszynski (197 lbs.) claimed sixth place in their brackets.
Micah Kunkle finished in seventh in the 197 lbs. weight class and
Wyatt Bingaman took eighth at 174 lbs.
The Falcons wrap up the regular season next weekend when they host the Elizabethtown Blue Jays in a dual on Friday night and travel to Ewing, N.J. to take on The College of New Jersey Lions on Saturday afternoon.
Notable Finishes
As mentioned,
Tim Eddinger led the Falcons on Saturday with a fourth-place finish. Eddinger earned pins in his first two matches of the day with pins over Anthony Salopek (Univ. of Penn) and Jordan Downey (Ursinus). After a victory via injury, Eddinger found his way into the semifinals at 174 lbs. Despite dropping a 14-4 major decision to the top seed, Eddinger finished his tournament in fourth place after going 1-1 in the consolation bracket.
Wyatt Bingaman also placed at 174 lbs., taking home eighth place. Bingaman started his day with a 5-3 decision against Jud Cummings (Washington & Lee), but had to fight through the consolation bracket after a second round loss. Bingaman earned a 9-6 decision and a medical forfeit to make sure before dropping his last two matches of the day to finish eighth.
The Falcons also had two placers at 197 lbs. with Sawyer Dereszynski taking sixth and
Micah Kunkle finishing in seventh. Both started with decision victories in the opening round, but fell into the consolation bracket after losing in the second round. From there, Dereszynski earned an 11- major decision over Eric Gamble and a 21-5 technical fall over Nathan Ridgley. Despite dropping his final two bouts of the tournament, Dereszynski finished sixth.
After Kunkle moved into the consolation bracket, he claimed a 4-1 decision over teammate
Nathaniel Manarin. After a loss, Kunkle ended his day with a 6-1 decision over Nathan Ridgley to claim seventh.
Caiden Heller (125 lbs.) and
Clay Gainer (149 lbs.) both took sixth place on the day in their respective weight classes. Heller's day was highlighted by a major decision over Ursinus' William Schwartz in the consolation bracket by an 11-2 final. Gainer's day started with a 16-1 technical fall over Gettysburg's Jon Cermeno. He also picked up a 10-6 decision over another Bullet, Julian Amadio, in the consolation bracket en route to his sixth-place finish.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will conclude the regular season next weekend with a pair of duals. On Friday night they will host the Elizabethtown Blue Jays at 7:00 p.m. when they celebrate their senior class with Senior Night. On Saturday, Messiah heads to Ewing, N.J. for their final dual of the regular season against TCNJ at 1:00 p.m.
