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Jesuit Wrestling Turns Heads in First Ever Competition

November 2, 2013

BEREA, Ohio - When Sean Doyle, first-year head coach of the Wheeling Jesuit University Wrestling program, woke up yesterday he was filled with anticipation and excitement. His Cardinal wrestlers were about to compete in the Baldwin Wallace Wrestling Open, Wheeling Jesuit's first-ever intercollegiate wrestling competition.

"I was really excited to compete against someone other than ourselves on the mat," said Coach Doyle. Our wrestlers have worked real hard as we have developed our program from the ground up at Wheeling Jesuit. I wanted to see if we could compete at the level we knew we could and go out there and have some fun."

But no one, including the competition, could have expected what would ensue.

Of the 18 participants for the Cardinals, nine would place on the day. At the end of the tournament, Wheeling Jesuit University would walk away with two first place finishes, one second place finish, one third place finish, two fourth place finishes, two fifth place finishes, and one sixth place finish. The Cardinals would finish with an unbelievable 33-29 record in their first time on a competitive stage.

Freshman Joshua Henderson (East Liverpool, Oh.) would get the day off to a great start with a second place finish in the 125-pound classification. Henderson finished 2-1 on the day with a fall at 4:44 in his first match and a 6-4 decision before losing to Jess Gunter of Baldwin Wallace in the championship match.

In the 133-pound class, two Wheeling Jesuit wrestlers would place. Freshman Scott Lopez (Morgantown, WVa.) finished third, while Freshman Damon Outward (St. Clairsville, Oh.) finished sixth. Lopez defeated Josh Hunter on a technical fall 16-0 in his first match, won a 7-5 decision in his second, lost a major decision against Mitchell Pawlek of Indiana Tech University, and won a 9-0 major decision over Indiana Tech's Brett Yarborough to take third place.

Outward pinned Baldwin Wallace's Pat McGinnis in 3:00 in his first match, won a 4-2 decision in his second match, lost a technical fall decision to Michael Labry of Ashland University in his third match, and lost a 12-9 decision to Scott Spreng of Ashland University in his fourth match to finish 6th place in the 133-pound classification.

Freshman Skyler Terrell (Vienna, WVa.) would blow through 4 straight matches to take first place in the 141-pound division. In round one, Terrell won an 8-0 major decision over Ashland University's Juwan Bartlett. Round two witnessed Terrell win a 4-1 decision. It would be the same in round three where Terrell defeated Clarence Longley of Ashland University on a 3-0 decision. In his fourth match Terrell would defeat Ashland's Daniel McNulty, who had also come straight through his bracket, 5-1 to take first place for Wheeling Jesuit.

Freshman Dominick Nania (Greensburg, Pa.) finished 5th in the 157 pound classification. Nania won a major decision 12-1 over Brad Potter of Ashland University in his first match before losing a 13-6 decision in his second. He rebounded in his third match by winning a technical fall decision 15-0. In his fourth match he pinned Mason Calvert of Ashland University in 4:20. Nania then lost his fifth match to Matthew Buxton of Ashland University in a major decision 19-5. He then defeated Chase Hack of Indiana Tech University 13-6 to take fifth place.

In the 174-pound division, Freshman Sawyer Leppla (Cambridge, Oh.) would give the Cardinals their second first place finish on the day. Leppla would win a 12-0 major decision in his first round match. In his second match, he would defeat Ashland's Jon Beam on a 6-2 decision. And in the championship match, he would defeat Mount St. Joe's Nicholas Manning on a 9-2 decision to take the first place crown.

Wheeling Jesuit would take fourth and fifth place respectively in the 184 pound weight class. Junior Nate Hupp (Marietta, Oh.) won a major decision 11-2 over Tyler Gross of Ashland University in round one, lost a 7-1 decision in round two, won a 6-2 decision over his own teammate, Freshman Jared Leasure (Caldwell, Oh.), in his third match, before losing to Tyler Ray of Mount St. Joe to finish in fourth place.

Leasure lost a 9-6 decision in his first match and the aforementioned 6-2 decision to his teammate Hupp in his second match, before defeating Ray Canale of Ashland University in his third match to take fifth place.

Last, but not least, Freshman Logan Bowman (Fairmont, WVa.) took fourth place in the 285-weight class to round out the day. In his first match, Bowman won a 4-2 decision over Jacob Burton of Mount St. Joe. He lost a 7-0 decision in round two before pinning Nathan Islamovsky of Mount St. Joe in 3:22 in his third match on the day. In the next match, Bowman would win a close 5-4 decision over Indiana Tech University's Georgio Blades. In his fifth match, Bowman would once again win closely with a 1-0 decision over Kegan Clark-Sanchez of Indiana Tech University. After falling to Sean Brooks of Mount St. Joe in a 3-0 decision, Bowman would finish the day in fourth place.

"I enjoyed seeing us compete today against some quality schools. Monday is going to be a great day for us because I am looking forward to working on many different aspects including wrestling techniques that we weren't prepared for in our first day of competition. I look forward to us continuing to improve and developing as a program at Wheeling Jesuit University. I am proud of how our guys competed today, but we have a long way to go," said Doyle.

The Cardinal wrestlers return to action on Friday November 8th at 7:00 pm when they will host Alma College in Wheeling Jesuit's first-ever home wrestling match. There will be an Ohio Valley Showcase, featuring some of the Ohio Valley's best youth talent on the mat starting at 5:30 pm, with the main event following.

In addition, as a part of Wheeling Jesuit wrestling's commitment to the community, the wrestling program is sponsoring a paper drive for Augusta Levy's Learning Center for Autism. Fans are encouraged to bring new paper products including paper towels, printer paper, and tissue paper (just a few examples) to the gate where they will be received upon entrance.

Joshua Henderson, runner up 125
Scott Lopez , 3rd 133
Damon Outward, 6th 133
Skyler Terrell, Champ 141 Dominick Nania, 5th 157
Sawyer Leppla, Champ 174
Nate Hupp, 4th 184
Jared Leasure, 5th 184
Logan Bowman, 4th 285

Complete brackets AT THIS LINK


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