Kinjorski and Piggott punch tickets, Comets finish fourth at NCAA DIII Central Regional

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – Two Olivet College wrestlers qualified for the 2019 NCAA Division III Championships, leading the Comets to a fourth-place finish (out of 19 schools) at the 2019 NCAA Division III Central Regional inside Wabash (Ind.) College's Knowling Fieldhouse in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

• The Comets had seven wrestlers finish in the top eight of their weight class. Olivet totaled 94.0 points to edge John Carroll (Ohio) University for fourth-place in the team standings by 3.5 points.
• Junior Haydn Kinjorski and sophomore heavyweight Trevor Piggott both finished in third-place to punch their ticket to the 2019 NCAA Championships.
• The host Little Giants took first-place with 156.5 points, followed by Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) University, 146.5, and University of Mount Union (Ohio), 144.

• In today's matches, Kinjorski dropped a 9-2 decision to Jairod James from Mount Union in the semifinals. He defeated Jeremiah Slagle from Heidelberg, 7-1, and Nick Miller from Trine, 8-4.
• Piggott suffered a close 6-4 loss to Wade Ripple from Wabash in the semifinals. He beat Collin Lewis from Adrian, 12-5, and James Ritchie from Baldwin Wallace, 12-7.
• At 157 pounds, sophomore Cole Hersch lost his first match today to Antwon Pugh from Mount Union, 11-8, in the semifinals. He bounced back to beat Joel Arney from Manchester, 4-0, but fell to Richard Burke from Baldwin Wallace, 16-0, in the third-place match.
• At 133 pounds, freshman Reese Wallis won 2-1 in overtime against Mason Brainard from Heidelberg before losing to Owen Doster from Wabash, 9-5. In the fifth-place match, Wallis won by injury default over Spencer Dusi from John Carroll.
• At 165 pounds, senior Tyler Grimsley fell 9-2 to Anthony Arroyo from Baldwin Wallace in the semifinals and 3-2 to Sam Gross from John Carroll in the consolation bracket semifinals. In the fifth-place match, Grimsley defeated Isaac Collier from Case Western, 8-2.
• At 125 pounds, sophomore Cameron Mahlich suffered a 9-1 loss to Andrew Perelka in his first match. Mahlich scored a takedown in overtime to edge Rosendo Beltran from Defiance, 5-3, in the seventh-place match.
• At 149 pounds, junior Drew Mandell lost 7-2 to Jarrad Lasko from John Carroll. He rebounded to pin Jeff Andrews from Ohio Northern in 48 seconds in the seventh-place match. Combined with his two pins yesterday, Mandell received the region's Most Falls in Least Time award (3 pins in 3:10).

1. Wabash (Ind.) 156.5, 2. Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) 146.5, 3. Mount Union (Ohio) 144.0, 4. OLIVET 94.0, 5. John Carroll (Ohio) 90.5, 6. Heidelberg (Ohio) 69.5, 7. Alma 66.0, 8. Otterbein (Ohio) 64.5, 9. Manchester (Ind.) 53.0, 10. Trine (Ind.) 52.5, 11. Ohio Northern 51.5, 12. Muskingum (Ohio) 44.5, 13. Adrian 40.5, 14. Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) 34.0, 15. Thomas More (Ky.) 29.0, 16. Case Western (Ohio) 27.0, 17. Ohio Wesleyan 17.0, 18. Defiance (Ohio) 11.0, 19. Wilmington (Ohio) -1.0.

• The 2019 NCAA Division III Championships are March 8-9 at Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia.