Wabash claimed three top-six finishes at the 60th North Central Wrestling Invitational, held Saturday in Naperville, Illinois. The Little Giants finished eighth out of 12 teams competing in the tournament.
 
Ayden Lutes and Jaylen Young captured first-place finishes in the consolation brackets of the 165- and 174-pound brackets. Hadyn Ball added a sixth-place finish at 197 pounds.
 
Lutes scored five victories on the day, including four consecutive wins in the consolation bracket. He started the day with a 12-6 victory over Nicholas Brunst from Baldwin Wallace. Lutes followed a loss in the second round with a 19-1 tech fall over Hale Rhodes from Coe in the first round of the consolation bracket. Lutes pinned Kael Scranton from Coe at the 5:18 mark of the next match, then picked up a 2-1 victory in the next round to advance to the first-place bout of the consolation bracket. Lutes faced Brixton Bright from Albion in the 165-pound consolation bracket championship match, earning a 4-3 victory.
 
Young won five straight matches in the 174-pound consolation bracket after taking an opening-round loss. He rallied for a 9-1 major decision in the first consolation bracket match against Cruz Henton from Castleton. Young pinned Baldwin Wallace's Matthew Hamad 1:32 into their consolation second-round bout. Young faced teammate Elorm Nevis in the next round, scoring a 4-3 victory to advance in the bracket. A 16-2 major decision over Colby Celuck from Castleton advanced Young into the 174-pound consolation bracket first-place match, defeating Brandon Burkhart from Baldwin Wallace 9-3.
 
Ball won three matches at 197 pounds to earn a sixth-place finish in the bracket. He started the day with an 8-2 decision over Dominic Pagan from Baldwin Wallace, then scored a 16-1 tech fall in the second round over Nolen Yeary from Coe. A 7-2 loss in the quarterfinals sent Ball to the consolation bracket, where he advanced due to a medical forfeit by Ruben Vasquez from Concordia Wisconsin before a pair of losses in the final two rounds ended in a sixth-place finish overall.
 
Wabash finished with 44.5 points in the team scoring to finish eighth overall. Augsburg won the team title with 165.5 points.
 
The Little Giants travel to Rhode Island next weekend to compete in the East Coast Duals hosted by Johnson and Wales University.