Wrestling team finishes in seventh-place at Pete Willson Invitational

WHEATON, Ill. -- Led by sophomore James Myers' (Wintersville, Ohio/Indian Creek) second-place finish, the Olivet College wrestling team placed seventh out of 32 schools at the 68th Annual Pete Willson-Wheaton College Invitational at the King Arena in Wheaton, Illinois.

Olivet collected 80.5 points, which was just 3.5 points behind rival Trine (Ind.) University. Lindenwood University took first-place with 131 points, followed by University of Wis.-LaCrosse (109.5), University of Wis.-Parkside (102.5), Indianapolis University (100.5) and University of Mount Union (92.5).

Myers' finish was best for the Comets. In the championship bout, he lost a tough 1-0 decision to Wis.-Parkside's Matt Gille. In this morning's semifinal match, Myers beat Clayton MacFarlane from Lindenwood, 3-1.

At 285 pounds, sophomore Logan Renas (Big Rapids) won two matches in the morning session to advance to the third-place bout where he fell to Elizabethtown's Tim Katzaman, 3-1, to place fourth. His earlier wins were a 6-3 decision victory over Wis.-Whitewater's James Zarate and 4-3 over Heidelberg's Jerry Knapp.

At 133 pounds, sophomore Kenny Richmond (Brighton) lost his semifinal match, 5-3, to top seed Nathan Fitzenreider from North Central and then dropped 7-3 decision to Wis.-Whitewater's Jake Fredricksen in his first consolation bracket match. In the fifth-place match, he was defeated by Wis.-LaCrosse's Adam Sheley, 6-3.

Senior Vince Tucker (Clio) finished in seventh-place in the 141-pound bracket. This morning, he lost his first match, 3-2, to Mount Union's Josh Malave. In the seventh-place match, he defeated Alberto Quiros from Augustana, 5-1. The other place winner for Olivet was junior Steve Mena (Martin) finishing eighth at 157 pounds.

The Comets are now idle until Tuesday, Feb. 8, when they welcome the Trine (Ind.) University Thunder to The Cutler Event Center for a dual match at 7 p.m.