ST. CHARLES, Mo. | Hyland Arena - McKendree University men's wrestling was led by a trio of top-3 finishers at the Lindenwood Open on Saturday as senior 125 Christian Mejia, redshirt junior 174 Matt Ortiz, and sophomore 184 Lucas Wendling went second-third-second in their respective weight classes. The Bearcats battled with over 20 wrestlers competing in the open tournament over two divisions, senior and amateur. McKendree will be back after the Thanksgiving break with the Jim Koch Open in Kenosha Wisconsin on December 2. 

125 CLASS | Gold Division - Christian Mejia, 2nd
The senior tallied his second-straight open tournament runner-up finish on the weekend after also finishing second in his weight class during the Maryville Open on November 4. Mejia captured back-to-back falls to begin his day, pinning Gabriel Gray of Wayland Baptist (5:27) and Lindenwood's Austin Kegley (4:38). In the semifinal matchup, he tallied a major decision with a 17-4 result over Central Oklahoma's Guy Clevenger. Mejia dropped the first place bout to Oklahoma State's Troy Spratley via tech. 

174 CLASS | Gold Division - Matt Ortiz, 3rd
Oritz has made a splash to begin the season after claiming first place at the Maryville Open to start the year and continued with a wrestle-back third place finish at Hyland. The St. Charles, Illinois-native began his day in St. Charles, Missouri with a fall over Quincy's Aaron Taylor (0:52) before falling narrowly via decision (6-3) versus Oklahoma State's Blake Skidgel. Ortiz then collected two wins to make it into the third-place match where he defeated Skidgel by his own decision, 4-3. 

184 CLASS | Black Division (Fresh/Soph) - Lucas Wendling, 2nd
The sophomore worked through his matches via mixed results with two pins and two decisions in his victories. Wendling pinned his opening opponent in Maryville's Achilles Clarke before grabbing a 10-4 decision against Evan Tilton of Marian (IN). He added another pinfall in the quarterfinal against Drury's Tristan Staat before going 4-2 over UCO's Carlos Alvarado in the semis. Wendling fell in the title match to Oklahoma State's Jersey Robb by tech. 

GOLD DIVISION RESULTS
125 | Christian Mejia | 3-1, 2nd Place
141 | Joey Semerad | 1-2
141 | Ronan Schuelke | 3-2, 4th Place
141 | Rasheek Bonds | 2-2
149 | Josh Laubach | 1-2
149 | Josh Ramos | 1-2
174 | Zeke Waltz | 2-3
174 | Matt Ortiz | 4-1, 3rd Place
184 | Ryan Haynes | 2-3, 6th Place
197 | Logan Kvien | 0-2
285 | Tyler Haynes | 0-2
285 | Caleb Guise | 1-2

BLACK DIVISION RESULTS
125 | Jason Strope | 3-2, 4th Place
141 | Hayden Osment | 1-2
149 | Cody Martin | 1-2
149 | Ryan Schepers | 3-2, 4th Place
165 | Rylee Edwards | 2-2
184 | Ridge Schutte | 3-2
184 | Lucas Wendling | 4-1, 2nd Place
197 | Lucas Liberatore | 4-1, Consolation 1st
285 | Jacob Aharrah | 0-2

UP NEXT
Jim Koch Open | December 2 | Kenosha, Wisconsin

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