Following Saturday’s 20-16 loss to Shippensburg at home, the Gannon University wrestling team was able to come back Sunday and claim three individual titles and have seven others place at Sunday’s Jamestown Jayhawk Open.
Shippensburg was able to take the wind out of Gannon’s sails by winning the three final bouts of Saturday’s match after the Knights had won five straight to build a 16-9 lead.
The five wins came from redshirt freshman George McGuire (149 pounds), redshirt junior Garret Smith (157), redshirt junior Nate Ross (165), redshirt sophomore Christopher Matthews (174) and redshirt freshman Nicholas Costa (184). All matches were by decision with Costa’s being by a major decision.
But Shippensburg rallied down the stretch as Gannon’s Lorenzo Maddox (197), Nigel Toussaint (285) and Casey Vollmer (125) all were defeated.
On Sunday, the team traveled to Jamestown, N.Y., for the Jayhawk Open. All divisions were represented at the open from Division I, which included Edinboro and Penn. State, down to Division III schools such as Mercyhurst North East and Niagara Community College. The match was an open event so no team scores were kept.
However, Gannon’s junior Nick Budd, junior Alex Shaffer and sophomore Jake Stratton earned gold.The other wrestlers —freshman Korey Caudill, freshman Luke Walters, freshman Carl George, freshman Ryan Kaminski, redshirt junior Andrew Wood, freshman Travis Schmeling and junior Trevor Beiter—all placed at the open.
The Knights hit the road to Mercyhurst to take on the No. 7-ranked Lakers for a dual meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Mercyhurst has regionally-ranked wrestlers in every weight class but 141 pounds. There’s a possibility for regionally-ranked matches at the 165, 174 and 184 pounds.
At 165, Ross – ranked fourth in the region—could take on top-ranked Francis Mizia. In the 174-pound weight class, the fourth-ranked Matthews could match up against August Mizia, also ranked No. 1 in the region. At 184, Maddox, ranked No. 3, could face No. 4-ranked Angelo Bortoluzzi.
Gannon has dropped four consecutive meets against the Lakers.
Following Wednesday’s matchup, the Knights will host Seton Hill in a 7 p.m. meet Saturday at the Hammermill Center.
BRANDON JACES
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