INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - No.5 McKendree University men's wrestling earned its 11th-straight dual match win in Saturday afternoon, defeating a pair of non-conference opponents at the Greyhound Duals, hosted by Indianapolis at the UIndy ARC. The Bearcats (12-1, 5-0) beat Glenville State, 40-6, and Notre Dame (OH), 32-9, of the Mountain East conference to open the full weekend of matches in Indianapolis.
vs. Glenville State | W, 40-6
The duals opened for the Bearcats with a pair of first period fall wins from redshirt sophomore
Christian Mejia (125) and senior
Ryan Ripplinger (133). Mejia took little time to earn six points for the Bearcats with his pin coming at the 1:10 mark over Brady Layman. Ripplinger went to work early and often with a takedown and nearfall prior to Devin Easton making an escape to earn a point against Ripplinger. Ripplinger then added another takedown and nearfall, then adding McKendree's second pin at the 2:13 mark to move the lead to 12-0. Freshman
Brody Norman added a decision and three points to the Bearcats' total with a 5-4 victory against Ethan Hardy. Norman was down 0-2 in the first period but came back with a nearfall in the second and a takedown in the third period, he eventually received one more point for riding time to win the match. McKendree went up 15-0 with the win in the 141 class.Â
Senior
Jose Champagne in the 157 class was the next Bearcat to collect for his team with a major decision, 17-5, over Tristan Pugh. Champagne earned six points in the first period through two takedowns and one nearfall and coincidentally, did the same in period two but tacked on an escape, moving his total to 13 points in two periods. The senior ended his matchup with Pugh with two more take downs, securing a major and four points for the Bearcats. Redshirt sophomore
Rozell Baker earned a decision victory in the 184 (10-6), working the beginning and end of his match well. The first period featured a pair of takedowns and a nearfall for Baker, then he added a pair of escapes and a final takedown, securing his victory in the third period.Â
Redshirt freshman
Cory Peterson, graduate senior Vincnezo Scaletta, and graduate senior
Kevin Zange each added six points for McKendree with forfeiture wins. Zange's came via injury late against Gavin Shamblin (4:32).
No.5 McKendree dropped only the 149 and 174 classes, both by decision, giving Glenville State its six team points for the dual.Â
vs. Notre Dame (OH) (32-9)
The No.5 Bearcats entered their next dual with a similar result in mind and opened it with another victory from Mejia in the 125. Mejia amassed 19 points in 5:49 to take the match by tech fall and put McKendree up 5-0 immediately. McKendree went on to win the final six weight classes with five of six coming by decision and one by fall. Champagne was the next to collect points for the Bearcats, beating Allesandro Ramirez by a 5-3 count. Peterson went to work in the 165 (12-6) with at least one takedown in all three periods, gaining three points for his team. In the 174, junior Josh Jones earned a takedown to start the match, adding a second in the second period and finally a pair of takedowns in the third, winning on a count of 11-4.Â
Graduate senior
Daniel Filipek earned his decision with a flurry of shots late, earning a takedown in the second period, prior to racking up riding time and taking the point. The graduate senior collected the 3-1 decision against Logan Hall and three more points for the Bearcats. Scaletta made moves during the latter of the 197 match, getting an escape and two takedowns in the last two periods, earning him the 6-5 win over Thomas Scmitt. Redshirt freshman
Ian Kuehl took just 4:39 to earn a victory by fall in the 285 against La'Ron Parks. Kuehl added a takedown early and then collected a reversal and nearfall in the second period, prior to getting the pin.Â
Ripplinger added six points to McKendree in the 133 via forfeiture.Â
The Bearcats dropped the 141 and 149 classes by fall in the 141 and decision (4-1) in the 149, giving Notre Dame (OH) its team total of nine for the dual match.
