LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University men's wrestling opened up its season slate of duals with a 42-6 victory over the Panthers of Kentucky Wesleyan at Melvin Price Convocation Center  on Wednesday evening.

McKendree amassed 31 takedowns in the dual match versus the Panthers' four, also collecting nine 2/4 Nearfalls. The Bearcats collected a victory via forfeiture by KWC in the 141-lb. class, taking a lead of 6-0 to open the match. 

Kentucky Wesleyan claimed its only matchup victory on the evening in the true opening match at 149-lbs. with Gabe Adams beating redshirt freshman Josh Ramos via fall (2:56). The matchup win tied the outing at six points for both the Panthers and hosting-Bearcats. 

In the 157-lb. match, McKendree's freshman Christian Pfeiffer-Laguerre took a tech fall win over KWC's Dominick Ciccolella. The freshman Pfeiffer-Laguerre didn't allow his opponent to earn any points and won with an 18-0 mark. The win put the Bearcats into the lead with five team points awarded. 

Redshirt freshman Cory Peterson won his contest with Thomas Karlo in the 165-lb via tech fall at the 4:15 mark. Peterson amassed 26 points in the win and put the Bearcats up 16-6 over KWC. Freshman Max Rinklin, in the 174-lb. match took a major decision victory, adding four points with his 14-2 win and pushing McKendree to a 20-6 lead. 

The 184-lb. contest, graduate student Daniel Filipek won via a pin in less than one minute (0:52), bringing the Bearcats another six points to their team score (26-6). Filipek's fellow graduate student Vincenzo Scaletta represented the Bearcats in the 197-lb. category and added four points to the Bearcats' score with a 20-7 major decision. 

In the 285-lb. class, graduate student Kevin Zange won over the Panthers' Cameron Fleming via pin at 1:33.

The last two matches of the outing earned McKendree three points each with redshirt sophomore Cam Fusco and redshirt freshman Ryan Ripplinger each winning by decision. Fusco won with a 11-9 decision and Ripplinger recorded a 10-3 decision. 

UP NEXT:
McKendree men's wrestling will take on Central Missouri on Tuesday, November 16 at 7 P.M. in Warrensburg, Missouri. 

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