WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — No. 5 Campbellsville University men's wrestling got its season underway this past weekend at the University of the Cumberlands Patriot Open with 11 Tigers competing on the mat.
It was the lower weights that faired the best, as
Michael Beets and
John Hernandez competed at 125 and
Kolten Radaz at 133.
Beets started the championship bracket by reaching the semifinals. After receiving a bye in the first round, Beets pulled out 7-3, 7-6 and 5-4 decisions setting up the semifinal bout vs. Joshua Venia of Indiana Tech. Venia got the best of Beets with a pin fall in 4:41.
In the consolation bracket, Beets lost via pin fall in 4:56 to Marcus Reid of Spartanburg College.
Hernandez also received a bye in the first round before earning a pin of his own over Josh Schmidt in 2:56. Hernandez then met Venia in quarterfinal of the championship bracket but lost, 13-0.
In the consolation bracket, Hernandez pulled out an 8-6 victory over Lindsey Wilson's Michael Sergent before falling 16-0 to Devontae Upshaw of Truett McConnell.
Radaz rallied through the consolation bracket after falling in his first match of the tournament to Logan Robertson of West Virginia Tech, 8-1.
After the opening round loss, Radaz pulled out three straight wins, 13-1 major decision, 11-4 decision and pin in 1:01, before falling to Olson Delisca in the semifinal, 4-2.
The Tigers had three grapplers competing at 141 -
Aaron Rugnao,
Jordan Monroe and Tambola Sindihebura. Rugnao lost in his first match and only earned one win in the consolation bracket before dropping out due to an injury.
Monroe defeated Mathew Mims of Belmont Abbey, 17-13, but lost to Brandon Webber of Cumberland University, 5-3, dropping him into the consolation bracket. He earned two byes before falling to Levi Moss of Marian University, 8-4.
Sindihebura lost his only championship bout and lost the lone consolation match falling to 0-2 on the day.
At 157,
David Sparks and
Michael Diemer represented Campbellsville. Out of the two, Diemer was the lone one to earn a first-round win over John Cruz, 7-5. He went on to defeat DeQaylon Gray of Central Baptist, 9-3, but lost to Sparks, 3-1.
Sparks earned two wins in the consolation bracket but lost to unattached teammate
Angel Vasquez, 3-2.
Trey Lepper represented CU at 165,
Colin Coy wrestled at 184 and
Tristan Palmer was at 197, but all three lost their only matches in the championship and consolation brackets.
The Tigers will now travel to the Mount Union Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 11 in Alliance, Ohio.
