Wabash scored three team victories Saturday at the 2015 University of Chicago Wrestling Duals.
 
The Little Giants opened with a 34-14 win against the host Maroons, followed by a 38-18 victory against Saint John's. Wabash closed out the day with a 24-15 win versus the University of Dubuque.
 
"The team finished strong today after a bit of a slow start," Wabash head coach Brian Anderson said. "Overall the team came in and did what it needed to do and have positioned itself in the right spot for next week's National Duals. After a fifth-place finish at the Duals last year, this group is hungry to prove it can do much better this season."
 
Wabash trailed Chicago after the Maroons scored a major decision in the opening 125-pound bout. Chandler Moore responded with a 3-0 decision at 133 pounds draw the Little Giants to within a point. That sparked a four-match run of wins by Wabash. Michael Venezia dominated at 141 pounds with a 10-1 major decision, followed by a forfeit for Nick Bova at 149 pounds. Reece Lefever, fresh from a strong performance at the 52nd Midlands Tournament against a field of NCAA Division I opponents, recorded a pin at the 2:40 mark of his 157-pound bout versus Sam Koenig from Chicago.
 
Conner Lefever added a pin just 32 seconds into his bout at 174 pounds. Riley Lefever matched his older brothers with a pin of his own at 2:21 in the 184-pound weight class. Brett Thumm scored the final team points for the Little Giants with an 8-3 decision at 197 pounds.
 
Wabash jumped out to an early lead in its next competition versus Saint Johns. Freshman AJ Belden scored the first points with a pin at 2:47 in the 125-pound bout against John Wells, who received an honorable mention listing in the latest d3wrestle.com rankings. Moore picked up a pin in the closing minute of the 133-pound match, sticking Evan Guffey at 6:11.
 
Bova picked up a pin at 1:25 versus Jesse Rogers at 149 pounds. Reece Lefever scored another pin (1:32) at 157 pounds, followed by a pin by Chanc Ravish (3:21) at 165 pounds. Conner Lefever added a major decision with a 12-3 win at 174 pounds. Riley Lefever also won by major decision at 184 pounds with a 17-3 victory.
 
Belden provided another early win for the Little Giants in the final match against Dubuque. He earned an 8-6 overtime sudden victory versus Joey Cisneros, a contender in the d3wrestle.com 125-pound rankings, to put Wabash up 3-0. Dubuque tied the match with a win at 133 pounds, but Devin Broukal answered with a 13-0 major decision at 141 pounds to give the Little Giants a 7-3 edge.
 
"AJ Belden did an awesome job today igniting us in our last two duals," Anderson said. "He showed a lot of grit by beating two nationally-ranked kids."
 
"Before both my matches I was a little nervous before both of matches because I'd never wrestled a team dual this season," Belden said.
 
Wabash would never trail again in the match. Bova scored a 9-4 win in the 149-pound bout. Reece Lefever earned his final win of the day with an 8-0 shutout at 157 pounds. Conner Lefever captured a 142 win at 174 pounds. Riley Lefever closed out the scoring for the Little Giants with a pin 18 seconds into his 184-pound match.
 
The National Duals will take at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wabash will be one 23 NCAA Division III schools competing at the two-day event, which begins at 9 a.m. Friday, January 9 and concludes Saturday, January 10.