Wrestling team finishes in fifth-place at Pete Willson Invitational
Led by junior Gage Pederson’s (Hastings) runner-up finish at 149 pounds, the Olivet College wrestling team finished in fifth-place at the Pete Willson Invitational this weekend at Wheaton (Ill.) College.
WHEATON, Ill. – Led by junior Gage Pederson's (Hastings) runner-up finish at 149 pounds, the Olivet College wrestling team finished in fifth-place at the Pete Willson Invitational this weekend at Wheaton (Ill.) College. The Comets collected 76 total points. University of Wis.-Parkside won the team championship with 151.5 points, followed by Messiah (Pa.) College, 105; University of Wis.-La Crosse, 87; and University of Wis.-Whitewater, 84.5.
Wrestling as the top seed at 149 pounds, Pederson won his semifinal match, 7-6. He was then pinned in the championship by third-seed Greg Sanders from Concordia University-Moorhead.
Senior Kenny Richmond (Brighton) placed fourth at 141 pounds. He lost his semifinal match, 5-1, but bounced back to beat Jesse Meaney from Elizabethtown, 2-0, in the consolation bracket. In the third-place match, he fell to top-seed Kaleb Loht from Messiah, 7-2.
Sophomore Jeff Holm (Battle Creek/Harper Creek) was fifth at 184 pounds. He suffered a 2-1 loss in the semis, a 5-0 loss in the consolation bracket semis and then won by medical forfeit in the fifth-place match.
Finishing in seventh-place for the Comets was junior Rocky Cantu (Rives Junction/Jackson Northwest) at 165 pounds. Placing eighth were junior 125-pounder Henry McKeown (Bellevue/Olivet), junior 197-pounder Andrew Simpson (Tecumseh) and senior 285-pounder Jake Ceslick (Alpena).
Olivet returns to the mat next Friday, Feb. 8, when it hosts Heidelberg (Ohio) University at 7 p.m.