Two More Wins for No. 4 West Liberty Mat Squad
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The No. 4-ranked West Liberty University wrestling team breezed to lop-sided wins against a pair of Mountain East Conference rivals in Wednesday's Notre Dame (Ohio) Duals at Murphy Gym.
Coach Danny Irwin's Hilltoppers (8-3) got things started with a 36-14 romp past Glenville State before bringing down the curtain with a 32-12 victory against the host Falcons. The Pioneers beat Notre Dame, 25-18, in the day’s other dual match.
"We picked up a couple of solid dual wins for the program tonight," Irwin said following his squad's final action before hosting the Mountain East Conference championships on Jan. 29. "A few of our guys are starting to really execute the positions that will pay huge dividends come crunch time but we still had some areas that were pretty messy and disappointing.
"Those guys and the coaching staff take those things to heart. Rest assured those areas will be addressed over the next few days so that we can have the type of conference championship we are capable of having."
Defending national champion Cole Laya got the Hilltoppers off on the right foot in both matches on Wednesday. Ranked No. 2 in the nation at 125 pounds, Laya pinned Glenville's Brady Layman at 3:34 of their opening match and coasted to an 8-1 win against the Falcons' Brett Strandahl in the nightcap.
West Liberty's strength in the upper weights was on full display all night.
Chase Morgan picked up a forfeit at 165 against the Pioneers and finished up with a 3-2 win against Notre Dame's Cale Hoskinson.
At 174, No. 2-ranked Ty McGeary outlasted a scrappy Hunter DeLong, 4-1, in the Glenville dual before shifting into overdrive for a 17-2 technical fall against NDC's Thomas Schmitt.
At 184, former national champion and No. 2-ranked Connor Craig pinned the Pioneers' regionally-ranked Cole Houser at 3:50 of their match before easing to a 4-1 decision over Falcon senior Logan Hall.
At 197, No. 7-ranked Logan Kemp picked up a forfeit in the Glenville match before pinning Notre Dame's Nick McCarthy at 4:45 of the second period.
At 285, No. 5-ranked Francesco Borsellino impressed with a pair of first-period falls. The returning All-American stopped GSC's Devin Gauldin at 1:57 and followed that up with a 2:39 win by fall against the hosts' La'Ron Parks in the final match of the night.
The 2022 Mountain East Conference championships will be held on January 29 inside the ASRC on the West Liberty University campus.