Luke Miller wins 157-pound title, leads Wrestling to third place finish at 13-team ONU Invitational

ADA -- The Ohio Northern wrestling team finished third of 13 teams at the 29th annual ONU Invitational Saturday at the ONU Sports Center.

In the tightly contested team battle, the Polar Bears finished with 109.5 points as five teams finished within 14 points of the lead.

No. 10-ranked (NAIA) Campbellsville (Ky.) won the team title with 118 points, NCAA Division II Limestone (S.C.) was second with 111 points, No. 22-ranked (Div. III) Lycoming (Pa.) was fourth with 105.5 points and No. 14-ranked (Div. II) West Liberty State (W.Va.) was fifth with 104 points.

Polar Bear wrestlers had placers in seven of the 10 weight classes, led by junior All-American Luke Miller.

Miller improved to 9-0 on the season by winning the 157-pound weight class with a perfect 4-0 record.

The All-American posted a pair of falls and a tech fall to reach the finals, where he defeated second-seeded and No. 7-ranked Zach Mizer of Heidelberg 6-0 for the title. 

Freshman and No. 4-seed Kyle Kwiat posted three consecutive pins to reach the finals at the 174-pound weight class before eventually finishing second with a 3-1 record. Kwiat is now 8-1 on the season.

In the 184-pound class, sophomore and No. 4-seed Matt Alexander got a pair of major decisions and a 4-2 upset over top-seeded Spencer Adams of Campbellsville (Ky.) before falling 3-2 in the finals.

Alexander went 3-1 on the day and is now 6-3 on the season.

Fourth-seeded sophomore Mick Letcher placed fifth at the 149-pound weight class with a 5-2 record, including pins in each of his first two bouts.

Sophomore Nathan Jones went 4-2 on the day at 197 pounds to grab a fifth place finish.

All four of his wins were by decision and he improved to 7-3 on the season.

Sixth-seeded sophomore Billy painter finished sixth at the 165-pound class. He was 4-1 on the day before forfeiting his final two bouts due to an injury.

In the 197-pound weight class, freshman Nathan Jones placed fifth with a 4-2 record.

Jones avenged an earlier loss to third-seeded Russel Korbul of Lycoming (Pa.) 2-1 in the fifth place match. Jones is 7-4 on the season.

Junior Justin Southwick placed eighth at the heavyweight division with a 2-3 record, moving to 4-5 on the season.

Eight other ONU wrestlers posted victories on the day.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Friday with a non-conference dual meet at Manchester (Ind.) at 7 pm.