Sophomore Brad Taton leads Wrestling at 35th annual ONU Invitational
By Tim Glon
| ONU Invitational Site | ONU Individual Results | Final Brackets (.pdf) |
ADA — The Ohio Northern wrestling team hosted the 35th annual ONU Invitational tournament on Saturday at the ONU Sports Center Fieldhouse.
The Polar Bears finished 10th of 15 teams with 72 points.
No. 6-ranked (NAIA) Campbellsville (Ky.) won the team title with 145 points, No. 20 (NCAA III) Alma (Mich.) was second with 125 points and Olivet (Mich.) was third with 112.5 points.
In all, seven of the 15 teams in the tournament were nationally ranked in their respective divisions.
Six ONU wrestlers placed in the top eight of their respective weight classes.
Sophomore Brad Taton led the Polar Bears with a second place finish at the 125-pound weight class.
Seeded third in the weight class, he posted a 3-1 record which included a 8-2 victory over second-seeded Guiseppe Penzone of Tiffin in the semifinals.
Senior Kody Bellamy was also seeded third and placed fourth at heavyweight with a 3-2 record.
Sophomore Kyler Deeter and Gavin Nelson and freshman Clayton Davidson all placed seventh.
Deeter went 3-2 at 165 pounds, Nelson was 3-2 at 149 pounds and Davidson was 4-2 at 157 pounds.
Junior Ian Brown placed eighth at 184 pounds with an even 3-3 record.
"Overall, I'm pleased with the way we competed today," ONU head coach Ron Beaschler said. "This was a very talented tournament with good teams. We had eight weight classes with freshmen or sophomores competing and we placed in four of them. Taton had a great day and was in a position to win in the finals. We just need to keep getting better and we will be fine."
The Polar Bears will return to action Friday when they host Mount Saint Joseph in a dual meet at 7:30 pm at the ONU Sports Center Gymnasium.