The Cleveland State wrestling team earned a 39-9 victory over John Carroll in the Vikings' first dual match of the season on Tuesday night. Behind bonus points victories at seven weight classes, Cleveland State advanced to 1-0 on the season while John Carroll fell to 5-4.
Ben Willeford received a forfeit to start the match at 125, followed by an injury default victory for Dan King six minutes into the match at 133. At heavyweight, Riley Shaw capped the CSU victory with a pin in only 44 seconds. Nick Montgomery and Xavier Dye both scored 18-3 technical falls at 149 and 184 respectively. Mike Carlone at 141 and Matt Donohoe at 165 both had shutout major decisions. The only regular decision for CSU came by true freshman Kanez Omar who won a tight 3-1 contest against John Carroll senior Todd Gaydosh. The two wins for John Carroll came at 157 by pin and 174 by decision which gave John Carroll 9 points on the night.
The Viking wrestlers will dive into EWL action next in a dual at Edinboro on December 4th. Edinboro is currently ranked #14 nationally in Intermat's dual rankings and holds a 3-1 record. Edinboro also has the most wrestlers of any EWL team ranked in the individual top 20 rankings released today. Five Edinboro wrestlers are in the top 20. CSU and Rider have the next most in the top 20 with two each. No other EWL teams have wrestlers ranked in the top 20.
Ben Willeford is #20 at 125 and Riley Shaw is #19 at 285 in Intermat's recent rankings. This marks the first time that CSU has had multiple wrestlers ranked in the top 20 since November 2005 when three wrestlers were ranked in the preseason poll.
Full Match Results Against John Carroll
CSU 39 JCU 9
125 Ben Willeford (CSU) winner by default
133 Dan King (CSU) injury default over Sal Corrao (JCU)
141 Mike Carlone (CSU) 11-0 major decision over John Connick (JCU)
149 Nick Montgomery (CSU) 18-3 technical fall over Blake Dixon (JCU)
157 Tom McNulty (JCU) by fall in 2:40 over Chas Busz (CSU)
165 Matt Donohoe (CSU) 9-0 major decision over Jordan Victor (JCU)
174 Matt Tusick (JCU) 12-5 decision over Gabe Stark (CSU)
184 Xavier Dye (CSU) 18-3 technical fall over Steven Schmitz (JCU)
197 Kanez Omar (CSU) 3-1 decision over Todd Gaydosh (JCU)
285 Riley Shaw (CSU) by fall in 0:44 over Mike Andelbradt (JCU)