INDIANAPOLIS, IND – The Mercyhurst Wrestling team was back in action on Saturday for the third consecutive weekend at day one of the Midwest Classic hosted by the University of Indianapolis. The team tournament is the largest of its kind on the NCAA Division II wrestling calendar bringing in 46 different schools from all across the nation, including six of the ten No. 1 ranked wrestlers in the nation.
Mercyhurst concluded the first day of competition with four of their 10 wrestlers that started the day moving on to the second day of action. Eric Bartos, Luke McGonigal and Dillon Walker all are still in contention in each of their respective consolation brackets while Jacob Robb is set to compete in the semifinals of the Championship bracket at 285 tomorrow against AJ Cooper of Fort Hays State.
On his way to the semifinals, Robb would go on to win his first three matches all via pin. The graduate student first pinned Trevor Hankins of Central Missouri in his opening round matchup at the 1:16, he followed up that performance by pinning Devon Rice of Newberry College in the second round two minutes and 21 seconds into their contest. Robb punched his ticket to the semifinals when he pinned Keigan Yuhes of Findlay for his 100th career win as a Laker.
Bartos started out the day losing his opening round contest in a close overtime decision. The Valley City, Ohio native would go on to win four straight bouts in the consolation bracket at 133 to stay alive and move on to the second day of competition. Bartos finished the day by defeating the No. 4 ranked wrestler in Super Region Four Chase Wilkerson by major decision, 13-4.
The freshman Walker began his day in Indianapolis by defeating Avgeros from Belmont Abbey by major decision, 11-1. Walker then dropped his second round match in a close overtime bout to the fifth ranked wrestler in the nation at the 174 weight division. Walker then fired off two straight wins in the consolation bracket to move on including an impressive tech fall over No. 9 in the country Caleb Spears of Newberry.
McGonigal began his day by winning his first two matches of the day, the first by tech fall and the second via fall over Brandon Matthews of Seton Hill. Unfortunately, the junior dropped his quarterfinal match to No. 11 Marty Verhaeghe by way of decision, McGonigal will look to make a run in the consolation bracket at 184 tomorrow.
