Greyhound Open Results
Wheaton Invitational Results
Jake Strausbaugh took second place and
Garrett Payne scored a sixth-place finish at Saturday's University of Indianapolis Greyhound Open, while
Reece Lefever and
Josh Sparks earned top-eight finishes at the Wheaton Invitational over the weekend,
Strausbaugh moved closer to the top spot on the Wabash all-time wins list by posting three more victories to take second place at 149 pounds at the UIndy meet. He started with a pin at 1:48 into his bout against Skylar Procasky from Rend Lake, then added a second pin (52 seconds) versust Nick Bloch. A 6-1 decision in favor of Strausbaugh against John Fahy from the NCAA Division I program from the University of Illinois set up a finals match against another DI opponent, Roger Widmo from Michigan State University. Strausbaugh battled, but came up on the short end of a 9-2 decision in the championship bout.
Strausbaugh improved to 26-3 for the season, including a 19-0 mark against Division III wrestlers. He is 152-27 for his career, chasing the all-time Little Giant wins record of 159 set by Chris Healy from 2001 to 2005.
Payne wrestled at 149 pounds at the University of Indianapolis. He scored a 7-3 win against Robert Rhodes in the first round, followed by a 3-2 decision against oe Randazzo in round two. Payne lost by pin to Wildmo from Michigan State, then lost again to DaMonte Riley. A final 7-3 loss to Devin Patterson from McKendree earned Payne a sixth-place finish.
Lefever, the fifth seed in preliminary rankings, advanced to the fifth-place bout of the 157-pound weight class. He opened with a pin in the first 44 seconds of his bout versus Oliver Klein from Maranatha Baptist, then scored a major victory (14-0) against Nick DiNardo from Elmhurst. Another pin, this time at the 5:30 mark of his match against fourth-seeded Cedric Gibson from Wisconsin-Whitewater. An injury in that match prevented Lefever from participating in the championship semifinals against top-seeded Dillon Bera from Wisconsin-Parkside or in the remainder of his matches of the tournament.
Sparks earned seventh place at 184 pounds with a 4-3 record for the weekend. After pinning his first opponent, Ruben Villalobos from Knox College, in 47 seconds, Sparks lost to third-seeded Daniel Olsen from Wheaton in a close 5-2 contest. Sparks rallied for three straight wins in the consolation bracket, starting with a 7-1 decision over Joe DeGenova from Case Western Reserve. He defeated Eddie Terres from Lakeland 2-1, thens earned another close victory with a 3-1 decision against Andrew Pettit from Wisconsin-Whitewater. Fourth-seeded Matt Gillie sent Sparks to the seventh-place bout in the finals by scoring a 7-5 victory over the Wabash wrestler. Sparks once again rebounded from a loss, this time dispatching William Lockhart from Muskingum by a score of 3-2.
