Ada Ohio- The # 6 ranked Campbellsville University wrestling team finished up the fall semester with a good showing at the Ohio Northern Invitational this past weekend. The tournament had several NCAA II, NCAA III schools and a few NAIA schools competing. After a 7:00 AM weigh in and an exciting day of wrestling, the Tigers tallied 89 team points and finished in 5th place as a team.

Campbellsville had 7 wrestlers place in the tournament. James Hicks, Kyle Norred, George Sheppard, Dallas Hesseltine, Chris Branam, Johnny Sinchok and Chad Brown all placed in the tournament and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament in March.

Freshman standout George Sheppard and Junior Dallas Hesseltine lead the way by reaching the finals and coming up just short of a tournament title. George was able to defeat another ranked wrestler in Mike Horton of Indianapolis University. Sheppard defeated Horton 8-5 in the semi finals. Horton is ranked 3 in NCAA II at 157 pounds. George is off to a great start and is now ranked 4 in the NAIA at 157. Dallas has recovered from a few cuts and bruises and has climbed to # 3 in the NAIA rankings at 165.

Also wrestling well this weekend was James Hicks, Kyle Norred, Chris Branam and Johnny Sinchok who all finished in the top 6. James and Johnny both suffered minor knee injuries that kept them from wrestling for 3rd place. Both had to settle for 4th place on the day. Johnny continues to have a great freshman campaign and has climbed to # 7 in the NAIA rankings at 174.

Kyle Norred had to fight off another strong challenge from teammate MarcAntoni Macias to reach the placement rounds. Kyle dropped a close 4-2 decision to Matt Erwin and had to settle for 6th place. Chris Branam wrestled well enough to reach the semi finals and then suffered two straight losses to finish in 4th place on the day.

After taking a first round loss, Heavyweight Chad Brown wrestled 6 straight consolation round matches and finished in 6th place.

Daniel Rucker, Marc Macias and Ben Ellard all came within 1 win of placing in the tournament.

After a 2 week Christmas break, the team will return to campus on January 1st to prepare for the Midwest Classic and the National Duels in Waterloo, Iowa.