BEREA (Oh.) – First-year Luke Moore and senior Austin Williams took home individual titles to lead the Delaware Valley University men's wrestling team to a second place finish at the Baldwin Wallace Invitational on Saturday.
The Aggies racked up 148.5 team points to earn runner-up and finished just two points behind the host Yellow Jackets.
In addition to DelVal's two champions, sophomore Ryan Arndt earned second place at 133 pounds and first-year Taylor Weaver finished third in the same bracket. Senior Isaiah Johnson earned a third place showing at 197 pounds and sophomore Greg Croce took home third at 157 pounds. The Aggies got fourth place finishes from senior Jake Nase (184lbs.) and sophomore Malachi Harvey (141lbs.). Sophomore Cooper Kidd rounded out the scorers with a sixth place finish at 165 pounds.
"Today was another step in the right direction for our program," said Head Coach Andrew Taylor. "We were within a couple points of taking first place and came home with two individual titles. We had some big individual performances and wins, but at the same time, identified a lot of things to improve on. Overall, it's a good way to head into the break and get our guys ready to come back for some tough December wrestling."
Moore, the rookie who finished third at the Ithaca Invite a week ago, improved his season record to 11-3 and seven pins with a perfect 4-0 mark and three wins by fall today. He advanced to the finals with three first period fins and then took down Carter Lloyed of Baldwin Wallace with an 11-4 decision.
Williams cruised to his second tournament win of the season with four wins including two pins to up his season record to 12-2 with five wins by fall. The seniors began his day with two first period pins before winning two decisions, both over Baldwin Wallace wrestlers.
In the 133-pound bracket, Arndt went 3-1 with his only loss coming in the finals by 11-5 decision to Jaden Hinton of Baldwin Wallace. Prior to that, Arndt earned three hard fought pins – one in five minutes, one in 4:33, and the last in 5:43.
The Aggies will get their first extended break of the season as they enjoy the holidays before returning to action on December 4 at the Cyclone Open hosted by Centenary.
