MUSKEGON, MICH.-- Four Trine wrestlers placed in the top three of their weight class in the season-opening Ben McMullen Open, held Saturday at Muskegon Community College.
Freshman Tylor Willms (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) and junior Michael Conner (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville) each finished second in their respective weight classes, while freshmanNiko Barrantes (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) and senior Mack Green (Buchanan, Mich./Buchanan) each notched third-place finishes. Thunder wrestlers recorded eight pins, which ranked sixth among the 14 teams that competed int he event. Trine performers finished 41-32 overall, which gave them the fifth-best winning-percentage of any team in the Open. The Thunder finished with 76.5 points, which unofficially placed them third. Official team scores were unavailable on the tournament results page at the time of writing.
Willms adapted quickly in his first taste of collegiate wrestling. The freshman picked up wins by decision and major decision to advance to the semifinals in the 149-lb class. Willms notched his first-career pin in the semifinal, before dropping the championship to finish second.
Conner advanced to the championship of the 197-lb division with a pair of wins by decision and a dominating win by tech fall. He outscored his first three opponents 26-1 before falling in the championship match.
Barrantes gave Trine a second strong performance from a freshman wrestler. Barrantes recovered from a loss in his first match of the day to come all the way back and win three-straight matches to advance to the third-place match at 125-lbs. He notched his third-place finish with a win by major decision.
Green earned three pins on his way to his third-place finish in the heavyweight class, which tied for the second-most pins by any wrestler in the event. The senior closed his day with four-straight victories after dropping into the consolation bracket.
Cody Konieczki (Jackson, Mich./Michigan Center), Brandon Preston (Logansport, Ind./Logansport), Austin Glynn (Decatur, Mich./Decatur) and Kevin Groves (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) also picked up pins for the Thunder. Groves and Preston picked up three wins on the day, while Glynn and Konieczki each finished with a pair of wins. Preston defeated an opponent from Division-II Grand Valley State in the 141-lb quarterfinals before dropping in the semifinals.
David Moore (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion), Collin Haag (Manitou Beach, Mich./Addison), Jeffrey Helm (Westfield, Ind./Westfield) and Tyler Prater (Homer, Mich./Homer) also added victories for the Thunder.
Trine will host the Trine Open next Saturday, Nov. 15 in Hershey Hall. Matches begin at 10 a.m.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.