Brew wins 157-pound weight class, wrestling team finishes in fourth-place at ONU Invitational

Junior Jason Brew (Sparta) won the 157-pound championship to lead the Olivet College wrestling team to a fourth-place finish (out of 18 schools) today at the Ohio Northern University Invitational. The Comets placed second among 11 NCAA Division III schools.

Olivet tallied 93.5 points, and were only 3.5 points behind third-place and NCAA Division III foe Heidelberg (Ohio) College. Limestone (Pa.) College captured the team title with 128.5 points, followed by West Liberty (W.Va.) College with 125 points.

As the No. 1 seed, Brew finished the day with a 5-0 record. He opened the day with a 9-5 win, followed that with a pin in 2:37, a technical fall win and a 14-5 major decision win in the semifinals. In the championship match, Brew trailed 4-0 in the first period but came back to win, 8-7, over George Sheppard from Campbellsville (Ky).

As the No. 4 seed at 149 pounds, freshman Vince Lahar (Clio) comes home with a runner-up finish. He won by scores of 5-2, 7-3 and 4-3 along with a pin in 43 seconds. Lahar's loss in the championship match was by a 7-3 score to College of Mt. St. Joseph's (Ohio) Elliot Spence.

Senior Dayne Fletke (Middleville/Thornapple Kellogg) finished in fourth-place at 184 pounds. After posting a pair of one-point wins, 5-4, 7-6, and pin in 5:17, he was pinned in the semifinals. Fletke bounced back to win, 1-0, in the consolation bracket semis, and then fell 9-2 in his third-place match.

At 197 pounds, sophomore Joe Yurisich (Battle Creek/Harper Creek) won his first bout, 10-6, and lost his second bout to drop down to the consolation bracket. After pinning two wrestlers in the first two rounds of the consolation bracket, he dropped a tough 1-0 decision. In the fifth-place match, Yurisich defeated No. 1 seed Bobby Jablonski of University of Cumberlands (Ky.), 2-0.

At 125 pounds, junior Kyle Labrecque (Battle Creek/Lakeview) and at 133 pounds, junior David Szokola (Marysville) each placed eighth.

The Comets return to action next Thursday, Dec. 20, when they travel to compete against Eastern Michigan University. Action gets under way at 7 p.m.