Wrestling team stands in seventh-place after first day of Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational

The Olivet College wrestling team stands in seventh-place after the first day of competition at the 2008 Pete Willson-Wheaton College Invitational at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill. Four wrestlers will compete in tomorrow's second day of action, which gets under way at 10 a.m. CT.

Olivet has tallied 47.5 team points and are only 1/2 point behind sixth-place Heidelberg (Ohio) College and one point behind fifth-place University of Indianapolis. University of Wisc.-LaCrosse leads the 27-team field with 96.5 points.

Junior Jason Brew (Sparta) at 157 pounds and junior Kyle Vanderhyde (Sparta) at 174 pounds will compete are still alive in the championship bracket and will wrestle in the semifinals. Each are the No.2 seed at their respective weight class and posted a 3-0 record in today's action.

Brew recorded a 17-2 technical fall win over Tri-State's Ryan Lineberry, a 14-5 major decision win over Wisc.-Whitewater's Tom Trieloff and an 8-4 decision over Elizabethtown's and No. 7 seed Jereme Heisey. He will wrestle Elmhurst's and No. 3 seed Kyle Katz in the semifinals. Vanderhyde posted a 15-4 major decision win over Muskingum's Chris Farrington, 10-2 major decision win over Chicago's Dave Kneisel and 9-4 decision over Case Western's B.J. Greenman. He will face Wheaton's and No. 3 Toby Boltz in the semis.

Junior Kyle Labrecque (Battle Creek/Lakeview) at 125 pounds and senior Daron Cruickshank (Inkster/John Glenn) at 165 pounds each lost in the quarterfinals and got a win in consolation bracket to remain in the competition. After winning his first two matches, one by pin in 4:09 and one by a 2-0 decision, Labrecque fell to Ohio Northern's and No. 2 seed David Penny, 5-4, in the quarterfinals. As the No. 7 seed, he came back to knock off Wisc.-LaCrosse's and No. 4 seed Brandon Music, 5-2. Cruickshank received a bye in the first round, won 14-4 in the second round, but lost his quarterfinal match to Wisc.-Parkside's and No. 2 seed Kyle Becker, 8-1. He bounced back to beat Elmhurst's Tony Doan, 5-2, in the consolation bracket.

After winning their first two matches, sophomore Blake Gardner (Mount Morris) at 133 pounds and freshman Vince Lahar (Clio) at 149 pounds each lost their quarterfinal match. In their first round of the consolation bracket, they were bounced from the tournament with a loss to finish the trip with a 2-2 record.

Sophomores Joe Bargerstock (Livonia/Churchill) and Sean Misko (Richmond) each posted a 1-2 record at 184 and 285 pounds, respectively. Freshman Ben Hitchcock (New Lothrop/Montrose) at 141 pounds and sophomore Joey Yurisich (Battle Creek/Harper Creek) at 197 pounds bowed out of the tournament with a 0-2 record.

Following tomorrow's action, Olivet will participate in the Mid-States Conference Tournament, which is being hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terra Haute, Ind.