Team Standings / Complete Brackets
Erie, Pa. – Mercyhurst freshmen Kyle Raber and Michael Baxter won their weight class and three others finished as runners-up as the Lakers placed second at the National Catholic Invitational, hosted by Mercyhurst.
Notre Dame College scored 128 points to win the event, followed by Mercyhurst with 95. John Carroll was third with 82 points and Gannon had 77.5. Duquesne scored 68.5, followed by Seton Hill with 67 and Mercyhurst North East with 45.5.
Raber was helped to the championship bout by a pair of forfeits at 174, but he earned his championship with a 10-2 victory over top-seeded Kurt Wolff of Notre Dame.
Baxter pinned his first two opponents at 133 to cruise into the semifinals, where he defeated the No. 4 seed, Gannon’s Michael Sanders, 4-3. He then won the title by beating No. 2 seed Ethan Swope, of Gannon, 7-4.
Payne Lint defeated John Carroll’s Kevin Nycz 11-5 and Notre Dame’s Tyler Savage 7-0 to get to the finals at 125. In the championship, Lint lost to Duquesne’s Bill Chamberlain 5-3.
Andy Lamancusa rolled to the championship bout at 157, picking up a pair of technical falls and a pin in his first three matches. He was eventually upended by Notre Dame’s Thomas Straughn 6-4.
Finally, Kenny Bluska won his first two matches at heavyweight, pinning John Carroll’s Nick Petroni and defeating Notre Dame’s Justin Tripp 7-1. Bluska was beat by Gannon’s Frank McGrath 2-0 in the championship.
Mercyhurst will open dual match play Saturday by wrestling Limestone and Newberry in Gaffney, S.C.