ST. LOUIS, Mo. - No.11 McKendree University men's wrestling competed in its first event of the 2022-23 season on Saturday, as redshirt sophomore
Cory Peterson paced the Bearcats at the Maryville Kaufman Brand Open with a first-place finish in his 165 class. Overall, the Bearcats had 17 placers between the elite and amateur brackets with 11 total in the elite weight class brackets.
Elite 125
Mejia, a redshirt junior, finished second behind Indiana's Jacob Moran after winning his first match via major decision (10-0) over Lindenwood's Alec Bailey. His second round matchup was against Bryson Rowley of KWC, which Mejia dominated for a 20-4 tech fall win. Mejia continued with a win over SIUE's Davian Guanajuato via 3-1 sudden victory to get into the first place match. Moran took the win over Mejia via sudden victory, 3-1.
Elite 133
The sophomore Semerad finished his season opening tournament with a number two placement in his weight class. The sophomore defeated a Maryville-foe in Austin Wadlow by 3-1 decision before taking on and beating teammate
Tyler Delaware by 2-1 decision. Semerad was defeated by Indiana's Henry Porter by major decision in the first-place matchup.
Elite 165
Peterson, one of the Bearcats' returning All-Americans, began his season with a strong outing, going 4-0 enroute to his first-place finish. The 165lb redshirt sophomore defeated Quincy's Aaron Taylor in the first round by major decision, 15-5. in the semifinal of his bracket, Peterson took on Maryville's Cole Ritte, beating Ritter by 7-5 decision which put him up against teammate
Matt Ortiz. Peterson claimed first through a 3-2 decision victory over Ortiz.
Elite 197
Kvien returned to the mat after suffering an injury last season, keeping him out of action for most of the year. The redshirt sophomore beat Kendric Gordon of Williams Baptist via pin fall (0:56) in his first true contest of the outing. His next matchup was versus Athonie Banuelos of Missouri Valley which Kvien won by tech fall (18-2). Kvien lost the first place match to UIndy's Derek Blubaugh by 4-0 decision.
COMPLETE PLACEMENTS
Elite Brackets
125 -
Christian Mejia | 2nd
133 -
Joey Semerad | 2nd
133 -
Ryan Ripplinger | 3rd
141 -
Ronan Schuelke | 4th
157 -
Ryan Haynes | 5th
165 - Cory Peterson | 1st, 4-0 Defeated Ortiz 3-2 in First Place match
165 -
Matt Ortiz | 2nd
174 -
Zeke Waltz | 4th
184 -
Joshua Jones | 5th
197 -
Logan Kvien | 2nd
285 -
Ian Kuehl | 4th
Amateur Brackets
125 -
Jason Strope | 3rd
141 -
Rasheek Bonds | 6th
149 -
Ryan Schepers | 3rd
165 -
Lucas Wendling | 3rd
174 -
Brandon Lloyd | 3rd
184 -
Ridge Schutte | 2nd
UP NEXT
McKendree men's wrestling will be back on the mats on Wednesday, November 9, against Kentucky Wesleyan at Melvin Price Convocation Center at 7 PM.
