The 14th-ranked Wabash wrestling team scored three victories in the first day of the 2013 Bud Whitehill Duals held at Lycoming College. The Little Giants defeated Gettysburg 42-9, followed by a 47-3 victory over Muskingum before closing out Friday's matches with a 21-14 win against Heidelberg.
Tommy Poynter started the victory over Gettysburg with a pin at the 3:41 mark of his 125-pound bout against Holt Johnson to give Wabash a 6-0 lead. After a loss at 133 pounds, the Little Giants earned a forfeit at 141 pounds before
Jake Strausbaugh posted a 10-2 major decision over Eddie Carroll.
Reece Lefever added a technical fall with a 16-0 score at 157 pounds.
Ethan Farmer battled to a 6-4 decision at 165 pounds. Gettysburg won the 174-pound bout, but
Josh Sparks claimed an injury default 1:30 into his 184-pound contest against Lukas Iorio.
Austin O'Neal and
Abe Hall closed out the first round of action with wins at 197 and 285 pounds. O'Neal pinned Marshall Puls in 2:37 while Hall picked up a pin at 3:39 in his bout.
Wabash claimed wins in all but the 184-pound weight class in its match against Muskingum.
Tim Locksmith (133 pounds),
Reece Lefever (157 pounds), and
Drew Songer (174 pounds) all received forfeits.
Robbie Carter put the Little Giants on the scoreboard with a pin at 3:57 against 125-pounder Ahmad Taylor.
Michael Venezia added a pin at the 4:53 mark of his 141-pound bout against Ben Barnhart-Sullivan. Strausbaugh added his second win of the day with a 9-4 decision over Garland McCormick at 149 pounds.
Conner Lefever picked up a pin 27 seconds into his 165-pound match versus Skylar Caldwell. O'Neal won a 7-3 decision against Luke Weber at 197 pounds. Hall scored a technical fall (19-3) in his 285-pound match against Bass Conway.
The Little Giants jumped out to a 6-0 lead over Heidelberg with wins by Poynter (4-2 over Delian Schneider; 125 pounds) and Locksmith (11-7 over Colin McDermitt; 133 pounds). Strausbaugh answered a victory by the Student Princes at 141 pounds with a 10-4 win at 149 pounds to put Wabash up 9-3 in the team scoring.
Reece Lefever's pin proved to be key, giving the Little Giants six points with his stick of Aaron Banko at 1:04 in the 157-pound match. Heidelberg scored two consecutive decisions at 165 and 174 pounds to close the Wabash lead to 15-11. Sparks rallied the Little Giants with his tight 2-1 victory over Brennan Kelly at 184 pounds to stretch the lead to seen points. Heidelberg closed the advantage to four points heading into the final bout before Hall held on for a 2-0 win to keep Wabash in the championship side of the team bracket heading into the final day of competition.
The Little Giants open on Saturday against 24th-ranked Messiah College at 10:30 a.m. Messiah defeated the US Coast Guard Academy 23-13, then upset 19th-ranked Ohio Northern University 26-10 in its second match of the day. The winner between Wabash and Messiah will compete for the team title Saturday at 3 p.m., while the losing team will wrestle for third place in the finals.
