Piggott wins 285-pound title, wrestlers finish in sixth-place at Cliff Keen-Mike Duroe Invitational

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Olivet College wrestling team placed sixth of 16 schools at the 2019 Cliff Keen-Mike Duroe Invitational, hosted by Cornell College inside the Small Multi-Purpose Center in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

• Sophomore Trevor Piggott captured the 285-pound title with a 4-0 record.
• The Comets had five other wrestlers finish in the top six of their respective weight class.
• The host Rams edged Wartburg (Iowa) College for the team title by 1/2 point, 97.5-90.0. Loras (Iowa) College was third with 94.0 points, followed by Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.), 91.5; and Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) University, 90.0.

• Piggott started his day with a first-period pin at 1:55. After getting a bye in the second round, he won by an 8-6 decision in the quarterfinals and defeated Areon Day from Loras in the semifinals, 7-4. In the championship match, Piggott edged top-seed Lucas Rinehart from Wis.-Platteville, 4-3.
• Sophomore Cameron Mahlich finished third in the 125-pound bracket. He won his first two matches by decision, 8-1 and 9-5. Mahlich lost in the semifinals, 10-5, before bouncing back to post a 7-1 victory in his first consolation bracket match. A teammate forfeited the third-place match to Mahlich.
• Freshman Liam Kinjorski placed third in the 157-pound bracket. He pinned his opponent in the first round before suffering a 14-4 loss in the quarterfinals. Down in the consolation bracket, Kinjorski had back-to-back-to-back pins (4:31, 1:17, 4:30) to reach the third-place match, which was not contested due to a rule where a student-athlete can only wrestle in six matches in one day.
• Freshman Owen Miller took third in the 285-pound bracket. He recorded a pin in the first round, followed by two decision wins, 13-6 and 3-1. In the semifinals, Miller lost to the top-seed. In his first consolation bracket, he won by medical forfeit, and in the third-place match, Miller pinned Omar Begic from Wartburg.
• Junior Garret Cleveland was fourth at 125 pounds. He won two close matches, 8-6 and 3-2, before getting pinned in the semifinals. Cleveland rebounded to post a first-period pin before taking the medical forfeit loss to Mahlich in the third-place match.
• Freshman Channing Perry finished sixth at 149 pounds. All four of his wins were pins (1:20, 0:22, 1:45 and 2:14), and his two losses were also pins (5:00 and 4:03).

1. Cornell (Iowa), 97.5; 2. Wartburg (Iowa), 97.0; 3. Loras (Iowa), 94.0; 4. Stevens (N.J.), 91.5; 5. Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.), 90.0; 6. OLIVET, 82.0; 7. Augsburg (Minn.), 79.0; 8. Luther (Iowa), 65.5; 9. Dubuque (Iowa), 58.5; 10. Wis.-Platteville, 48.0; 11. Coe (Iowa), 45.0; 12. Buena Vista (Iowa), 37.5; 13. Simpson (Iowa), 31.5; 14. Wis.-La Crosse, 27.5; 15. Augustana (Ill.), 26.0; 16. Lakeland (Wis.), 8.5.

• The Comets continue their Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association schedule next Thursday, Jan. 17, with a 7 p.m. match at Alma College.