WINCHESTER, Va. – The Messiah Wrestling team picked up a convincing team victory at the Shenandoah Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 16. The Falcons finished with a team score of 204.5 points, 35.5 points ahead of second-place finisher Wilkes. The Falcons placed 19 individuals on the podium, with four claiming the top spot in their respective weight classes.
Asa Brunk claimed the individual title at 141 lbs. while
Levi Snyder finished atop the 149 lbs. weight class.
Keegan Demarest continued his strong debut season with a victory in the 165 lbs. weight class. Rounding out the top-place finishers for the Falcons was
Austin Brass at 174 lbs.
The Falcons are next in action on Saturday, Nov. 23, when they travel to Allentown, Pa. for the Scotty Wood Duals hosted by Muhlenberg College.
Podium Finishers
Asa Brunk claimed the individual title at 141 lbs. while
Levi Snyder finished atop the 149 lbs. weight class.
Keegan Demarest continued his strong debut season with a victory in the 165 lbs. weight class. Rounding out the top-place finishers for the Falcons was
Austin Brass at 174 lbs.
Shaun Quirk claimed second at 141 lbs. with
Dalton Monger earning second at 149 lbs..
Clay Gainer picked up the second-place finish in the 157 lbs. weight class.
Ryder Slayton earned a second-place finish in the 184 lbs. weight class.
Bryce Arnold claimed third in the 125 lbs. weight class while Cam Deville took third at 141 lbs..
Noah Rice picked up the third place finish at 157 lbs..
Sawyer Dereszynski finished third at 197 lbs..
Mason Casey (133 lbs.) and
Mikey Hollar (157 lbs.) both finished in fourth. At 197 lbs.,
Micah Kunkle finished fourth.
Micah Martinez earned fifth in the 285 lbs. weight class.
Caiden Heller (141 lbs.) and
Jacob Cunningham (149 lbs.) both took sixth. At 184 lbs.,
Tim Eddinger picked up a sixth-place finish.
First Place Finishers
Asa Brunk earned the top spot in the 141 lbs. weight class after winning his four bouts. Brunk started the day with a bye followed by a 15-0 technical fall. A fall in 3:28 moved Brunk into a match-up against teammate Cam Deville. Brunk earned the sudden victory over Deville with a score of 4-1 to advance to the championship bout where he squared off with teammate
Shaun Quirk. Brunk claimed the individual title after an 11-0 major decision over Quirk.
Levi Snyder also picked up a top finish for the Falcons at 149 lbs. Snyder started his day with back-to-back byes followed by back-to-back technical falls. A 16-1 technical fall put Snyder above Hunter Troutman of Wilkes before he defeated Manny Lucas of Shenandoah via a 21-5 technical fall. Snyder met teammate
Dalton Monger in the championship bout and earned the victory via a 7-1 decision.
Keegan Demarest continued his successful rookie campaign with a first-place finish in the 165 lbs. weight class. Demarest began his day with bye rounds in the bracket. In his first contested match of the day, Demarest picked up a 24-5 technical fall followed by a 19-3 technical fall. Demarest defeated Justice Hockenberry of Elizabethtown via fall at the 5:25 mark to advance to the championship bout. A 5-1 decision over Johns Hopkins' Chris Roybal gave Demarest the victory.
Austin Brass picked up the win at 174 lbs. after two bye rounds and four victories on the day. Brass picked up a 20-2 technical fall and a 14-4 major decision to move into the semifinal. Brass picked up a fall in 1:38 over Kyle Press-Stephe of Garrett College to move into the championship. Brass defeated Dylan Weaver of Shenandoah via 9-3 decision to claim the top spot.
Top Six Finishers
Bryce Arnold picked up a third-place finish in the 125 lbs. weight class. Arnold started his day with a fall in 2:41 before earning a 5-1 decision to move to 2-0 on the day. After losing by a 6-3 decision against Cadden Kucek from Wilkes, Arnold earned the victory in the third-place match due to medical forfeit.
After starting with back-to-back bye rounds,
Mason Casey picked up back-to-back falls in the 133 lbs. bracket. Casey picked up falls in 1:04 and 2:09 before losing to Elizabethtown's Corey Cope via fall in 3:21. In the third-place bout, Casey was defeated by Elizabethtown's Braden Schuyler by a 22-6 technical fall.
In addition to
Asa Brunk's victory, three other Falcons finished on the podium in the 141 lbs. weight class.
Shaun Quirk picked up the runner-up finish after picking up three wins before being defeated by Brunk in the final. After starting the day with two bye rounds, Quirk earned a fall in 1:58 and a 6-2 decision over teammate
Caiden Heller. Quirk finished his run to the championship with an 18-3 technical fall over Sean Rinebolt of Shenandoah. As mentioned, Quirk's day concluded with an 11-0 major decision loss to teammate
Asa Brunk.
Cam Deville also found himself on the podium at 141 lbs.. After two byes, Deville earned a fall in 1:02 and a 9-3 decision before meeting teammate
Asa Brunk on the mat. Brunk won the Falcon face-off with a 4-1 sudden victory in overtime. Deville picked up a 19-4 technical fall over Sean Rinebolt in the third-place match.
Caiden Heller rounded out the Falcons' podium in the 141 lbs. weight class. Heller started his day with back-to-back falls of 1:20 and 4:34 before losing to teammate Quirk via a 6-2 decision. In the consolation bracket, Heller picked up a fall in 1:59 over teammate
Daniel Pierce and a 20-12 major decision over Joshua Baeza of Union County College to enter the fifth-place match. Heller earned sixth after a tight 3-2 decision loss against Elizabethtown's David Panone.
Dalton Monger picked up a second-place finish at 149 lbs. after a successful day that was only put to and end when Monger met teammate
Levi Snyder in the championship. Monger started the day with two byes before picking up three-straight falls. Monger earned the fall in 0:26 in his first contested match of the day before picking up a fall in 1:01. Monger picked up a fall in 0:40 over Shenandoah's Hunter Ballantine to move into the championship bout where he was defeated by teammate Snyder via a 7-1 decision.
Also finding his way to the 141. lbs. was
Jacob Cunningham. Cunningham started his day with a bye before earning a 16-1 technical fall. A 9-3 decision in favor of Shenandoah's Ballantine pushed Cunningham to the consolation bracket. After a fall in 1:09 and 7-1 decision, Cunningham defeated Wilkes' Ben Grater via an 8-2 decision. Cunningham then picked up an 11-8 decision and earned sixth after the fifth-place bout was marked no contest.
The Falcons placed a trio on the podium in the 157 lbs. weight class.
Clay Gainer led the three with a runner-up finish. Gainer started his day with two byes before defeating Conner Sklavounos of Wilkes via a 15-0 technical fall. He then picked up a 16-0 technical fall and a 13-0 major decision over teammate Mikey Holler to advance to the championship. Gainer was defeated via a 5-4 decision in a tightly contested championship bout.
Noah Rice finished third for Messiah after a 4-1 day. Rice started the day with a 20-5 technical fall and a 10-8 decision. A 15-4 major decision over Ethan Bliss of Elizabethtown moved Rice into the semifinal where he was defeated by Wilkes' Jaryn Hartranft in a tightly contested 4-3 decision. Rice earned the third-place finish via medical forfeit. Rounding out the trio was
Mikey Hollar who claimed fourth. After back-to-back byes to start the day, Holler earned a 14-2 major decision and 15-11 decision to secure a spot in the semifinal. It was there that he matched up with teammate Gainer, who picked up the 13-0 major decision. Holler finished fourth after a medical forfeit.
Sawyer Dereszynski finished third at 197 lbs. after his efforts on the day. After two bye rounds, Dereszynski earned a 16-1 technical fall followed by a fall in 2:48. In the semifinals, Dereszynski was defeated by Wilkes' Cameron Butka via fall in 2:18 to move into the third-place match. Dereszynski earned third after a medical forfeit by teammate
Micah Kunkle. Kunkle started his day with two byes before picking up a fall in 1:51 over Devyn Edmondson from Union County College. Kunkle advanced to the semifinals via a 13-1 major decision but was defeated via a 17-2 technical fall against Elizabethtown's Will Davis. Kunkle earned fourth after a medical forfeit in the third-place bout.
At 184 lbs.,
Ryder Slayton earned a second-place finish and
Tim Eddinger picked up a sixth-place finish. Slayton started his day with a bye before earning a 15-0 technical fall. He then picked up a 14-0 major decision before defeating Christopher Nuss of Wilkes via 4-1 decision. In the championship bout, Slayton dropped a 4-0 decision against Elizabethtown's Ganon Smith.
Tim Eddinger started the day with two bye rounds before dropping his first contested match via an 11-5 decision to move to the consolation bracket. Eddinger picked up an 8-0 major decision and 7-0 decision before earning a fall in 4:51 over Wilkes' Jared Bilinski. In the fifth-place bout, Eddinger fell to Southern Virginia's Ikia Garcia via an 11-6 decision.
Micah Martinez earned a fifth-place finish in the 285 lbs. weight class. After dropping his first bout of the day with a fall in 1:46, Martinez battled his way back in the consolation bracket to earn the podium finish. Martinez picked up three-straight falls through the consolations with times of 4:13, 0:36, and 0:52 before winning his next bout via injury forfeit. In the fifth-place match, Martinez earned a 15-0 technical fall over Shenandoah's Rives Hargis.
Up Next
The Falcons are next in action on Saturday, Nov. 23, when they travel to Allentown, Pa. for the Scotty Wood Duals hosted by Muhlenberg College.
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