Four Polar Bears place to lead Wrestling at Wheaton (Ill.) Invitational

January 30, 2010

WHEATON, Ill. — Four Ohio Northern wrestlers placed in their respective weight classes to lead the Polar Bears to a tenth place team finish in the second day of action at the Pete Willson Invitational in Wheaton (Ill.) on Saturday.

Northern finished the tournament in 10th out of 30 with 58.5 points.

Freshman and No. 2-ranked Kyle Kwiat placed 3rd place at 174 pounds, junior All-American and No. 3-ranked Luke Miller was 4th at 157 pounds, sophomore Mick Letcher was 5th at 149, and sophomore Billy Painter was 8th at 165.

Kwiat, the tournament's No. 3 seed at 174 pounds, wrestled only seeded wrestlers on the day, starting off with a 12-7 decision loss to No. 2 seeded and No. 4-ranked Mike Schmitz of UW-La Crosse in the semifinals.

Kwiat bounced back by pinning No. 5 seed Cowan Brown of North Central (Ill.) in 2:49 to advance to the third place match.

In the third place match, Kwiat dispatched No. 4 Sam Engelland of UW-Oshkosh by an 8-1 decision to claim third place and Northern's highest finish of the day.

Kwiat went 4-1 on the weekend and is now a team-best 34-4 on the season.

Miller started off with a 6-2 decision loss to  the No. 3 seed Dillon Bera of UW- Parkside.

He then rebounded to take a 7-2 decision against Trine's Kyle Long but ended up dropping a close 6-4 decision against the No. 1 seed Jesse Milks of UW-Platteville in the third place match.

Miller finished 4-2 in the tournament and is now 31-4 on the season

Letcher went 3-1 at 149 earning a 16-9 decision victory over Domineak Commodore of Messiah and a win by pin fall to defeat Richie Clark of Mt. Union at 6:44.

Letcher then lost a 14-4 maj. dec. against UW-Eau Claire's Andy Johnston, before defeating the No. 8 seed David Lopez of Indianapolis by a razor-think 7-6 decision to claim 5th place.

He was 4-2 in the tournament and is now 23-6 on the year

Painter went 1-2 on the day by defeating Yousef Al-Ghoul of Elmhurst (Ill.) by a 19-4 tech. fall, before losing to the No. 7 seed George Markou of Trine (Ind.) and losing again to Tim Pope of Mt. St. Joe's on his way to claiming 8th place.

Painter was 3-3 for the tournament and is now 17-16 on the season.

The Polar Bears will return to Ohio Athletic Conference action on Tuesday with a chance to clinch a share of the OAC regular season crown at home against Baldwin-Wallace at 7:30 pm at the ONU Sports Center.

Ohio Northern Individual Results by Weight Class

149

  • #7 Mick Letcher (4-2) - 5th Place
  • #7 Mick Letcher def. by dec. Bobby Dorn (Wis.-LaCrosse), 9-4
  • #7 Mick Letcher def. by fall Nick Leon (Olivet), 3:22
  • #7 Mick Letcher lost by tech. fall to #2 Isaac Dukes (CWR), 20-4, 6:00
  • #7 Mick Letcher def. by dec. Domineak Commodore (Messiah), 16-9
  • #7 Mick Letcher lost by maj. dec. to Andy Johnston (Wis.-EauClaire), 14-4
  • #7 Mick Letcher def. by dec. #8 David Lopez (Indianapolis), 7-6

157

  • #2 Luke Miller (4-2) - 4th Place
  • #2 Luke Miller def. by fall Vincent Pizulli (JCU), 3:48
  • #2 Luke Miller def. by dec. Tim Gingerich (NCentral), 8-1
  • #2 Luke Miller def. by tech. fall Ryan Farwell (Wis.-LaCrosse), 16-0, 5:57
  • #2 Luke Miller lost by dec. to #3 Dillon Bera (UW-Parkside), 6-2
  • #2 Luke Miller def. by dec. #4 JKyle Long (Trine), 7-2
  • #2 Luke Miller lost by dec. to #1 Jesse Milks (Wis.-Platteville), 6-4

165

  • Billy Painter (3-3) - 8th Place
  • Billy Painter lost by fall to #1 Trent Zempel (Messiah), 4:52
  • Billy Painter def. by maj. dec. Clay Criss (CWR), 9-1
  • Billy Painter def. by dec. Mike Lussier (Elizabeth), 9-6
  • Billy Painter def. by tech. fall Yousef Al-Ghoul (Elmhurst), 19-4, 7:00
  • Billy Painter lost by maj. dec. to #7 George Markou (Trine), 11-0
  • Billy Painter lost by fall to Tim Pope (Mt. St. Joseph), 2:34

174

  • #3 Kyle Kwiat (4-1) - 3rd Place
  • #3 Kyle Kwiat def. by maj. dec. Ryan Pieper (Trine), 13-2
  • #3 Kyle Kwiat def. by fall #6 Greg Rhoads (Wabash), 1:27
  • #3 Kyle Kwiat lost by dec. to #2 Mike Schmitz (UW-La Crosse), 12-7
  • #3 Kyle Kwiat def. by fall #5 Cowan Brown (N.Central), 2:49
  • #3 Kyle Kwiat def. by dec. #4 Sam Engelland (Wis.-Oshkosh), 8-1

184

  • Drew Swick (0-1)
  • Drew Swick lost by fall to #4 Nick Kraus (Trine), 6:01
  • Drew Swick lost by medical forfeit

285

  • Justin Southwick (1-2)
  • Justin Southwick def. by fall Travis Pagel (Concordia), 2:38
  • Justin Southwick lost by tech. fall to #1 Dan Laurent (Wis.0LaCrosse), 18-2, 7:00
  • Justin Southwick lost by fall to Jason Laplante (Wis.-Oshkosh), 3:41