WHEATON, Ill. – The Messiah Wrestling team was in action on Saturday, Jan. 31 for Day Two of the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational. Five Falcons advanced from Day One. The Falcons finished eighth as a team out of 29 teams with 83 points. Roanoke earned the team title with 154 points.
Keegan Demarest led the Falcons at 165 lbs., finishing second in a strong bracket.
Dalton Monger (149 lbs.),
Jacob Cunningham (141 lbs.),
Zach Needles (174 lbs.), and
Tucker Seidel (197 lbs.) all earned podium finishes for the Falcons.
Messiah will return to action on Friday, Feb. 6, when they travel to nearby York College for a dual meet. Action is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. against the Spartans.
Keegan Demarest opened his time in 165 lbs. weight class with a fall over Wheaton's Taggart Kazmierczak in 3:34 to earn a spot in the championship bout. Demarest held a 6-1 lead with two first-period takedowns before securing an escape and a takedown, capitalizing on the position and earning the fall. In the championship bout against top-seeded Tanner Gerber of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, Demarest trailed 4-0 before earning an escape in the third. A riding time point gave Gerber the 5-1 decision as Demarest finished in second.
At 149 lbs.,
Dalton Monger opened his day with a fall in 48 seconds over Alex Morales of Milwaukee School of Engineering. Monger earned a spot in the fifth-place bout after dropping his bout against the University of Chicago's Maksim Mukhamedaliyev via fall in 4:30. Monger claimed fifth after a 12-1 major decision over Aidan Baum of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. He took a 7-1 lead with a takedown and four-count nearfall in the first before adding an escape, takedown, and riding time point in the third.
Jacob Cunningham opened day two in the 141 lbs. weight class with an 8-4 decision over Ty Fink of Wisconsin- Eau Claire to advance in the consolation bracket. Cunningham then dropped his bout to top-seeded Sean Conway of the University of Chicago via 11-3 major decision to fall to the fifth-place bout. Cunningham finished sixth after dropping his final bout via 7-2 decision against Ohio Northern's Casper Caizzo.
At 174 lbs.,
Zach Needles dropped his first bout to Preston Carlisle of Wisconsin- Eau Claire via fall in 2:22 to secure a spot in the seventh-place bout. Needles faced Case Western Reserve's Chase Crutchley and earned a 10-7 decision to claim seventh.
At 197 lbs.,
Tucker Seidel dropped his first bout against Ohio Northern's Myles Johnson via 4-0 decision to fall to the seventh-place match. Seidel finished in eighth after dropping his final bout via 10-6 decision to Aidan Gassel of Case Western Reserve. Gassel held a 10-2 lead after the first and Seidel added a takedown in the second and an escape in the third, but it was not enough to defeat Gassel.
