Wrestling team is third at Al Hanke Invitational
With the majority of its starters taking the weekend off, the Olivet College wrestling team placed third at the 2015 Al Hanke Invitational, hosted by Elmhurst (Ill.) College. The Comets totaled 77 points to finish behind University of Wis.-Stevens Point, 156, and the host Bluejays, 127.5.
ELMHURST, Ill. – With the majority of its starters taking the weekend off, the Olivet College wrestling team placed third at the 2015 Al Hanke Invitational, hosted by Elmhurst (Ill.) College. The Comets totaled 77 points to finish behind University of Wis.-Stevens Point, 156, and the host Bluejays, 127.5.
Olivet's top performance from its scoring lineup came from junior Kyle Carter at 197 pounds and junior Jesse Judge at 285 pounds, as both wrestlers finished in second-place in their respective weight class. Carter pinned Cody Barners from Harper (Ill.) College in the first round and beat Grant Tennihill from Elmhurst, 9-2, in the semifinals. Carter was pinned by top-seed Bo Seibel from Wis.-Stevens Point in the championship match. Judge posted two first-period pins in his first two matches before dropping an 11-4 decision to No. 1 seed Austin Bellile from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) in the championship match.
At 165 pounds, freshman Tyler Grimsley and at 184 pounds, sophomore Ryan Clark placed fifth. Grimsley won three straight matches to advance to the semifinals, where he fell to the top-seed, 11-8. Dropping down to the consolation bracket, he dropped a 13-9 decision before defeating No. 3 seed Nicholas Ferraro from Chicago, 10-5, in the fifth-place match. Clark earned an 8-3 win in the first round before losing 4-1 in the semifinals. Another three-point loss, 4-1, in the consolation bracket put him in the fifth-place match, where he received a medical forfeit win over top-seed Devon McCune from MSOE.
Starters who finished in sixth-place were junior Ross Pennock at 157 pounds and senior Nicholas Africano at 174 pounds. Pennock reached the semifinals with two quick pins, one in 42 seconds and the other in 54 seconds. He fell to the second seed in the semifinals and then medical forfeited his remaining matches. Africano won twice and then also medical forfeited the rest of his matches.
The Comets return to the mat next Thursday, Jan. 21, when they host Alma College. The match inside The Cutler Event Center in Olivet starts at 7 p.m.