Friday Results
Official Championship Page
INDIANAPOLIS – Five seeded teams took their talents to the mat as the first day of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Wrestling Championship Duals was completed on Friday afternoon at Lake Erie's Osborne Center.
A total of four duals on two mats were completed starting at 5 p.m. ET as No. 5 Kentucky Wesleyan, No. 3 Findlay and No. 2 Lake Erie, each wrestled a pair of different opponents. No. 4 Tiffin and No. 1 Ashland had byes and will wrestle three times on Saturday.
In the first session, Lake Erie defeated Kentucky Wesleyan on Mat 1 by a 53-3 verdict and on the other side it was Tiffin beating Findlay, 37-12.
In the evening action, it was Ashland winning by a final of 44-6 while Lake Erie improved to 2-0 in the duals with a 20-15 final over Findlay.
Kentucky Wesleyan heavyweight Kairus Washington was 2-0 on the day for the Panthers following 7-0 and 4-2 decisions. The Panthers also had a win at 133 pounds courtesy of Andrew Parker in a wild back-and-forth tussle with AU's Nate Godsey as 20 points were put up between the pair.
The Storm had five pins and a technical fall in their opener. The Penfold Brothers tandem of nationally ranked James (165) and John (174) each had pins under a minute elapsed. Chris Droege (197) was also 2-0 along with last year's conference freshman of the year Corey Gamet (133). Tiffin also recorded five pins against Findlay including three consecutive sticks in the middle weights.
The Oilers were led by a 2-0 day from Branson Proudlock (141), Hunter Reed (174) and Mark Trifelos (184). Reed also recorded a pin in under one minute.
Defending conference champion Ashland had a few nationally ranked individuals receive forfeits in the team's first dual while No. 1 nationally ranked Daniel Beemer (174) and top 10 ranked Aidan Pasiuk (184) each had bonus points with a pin and technical fall.
Going into Saturday, Lake Erie is 2-0, Ashland is 1-0, Tiffin is 1-0, Findlay is 0-2 and Kentucky Wesleyan is 0-2.
At the conclusion of the championship duals, the coaches will briefly gather to vote on the all-conference team (10 on first team, 10 on second team, 10 on third team), which includes their accomplishments from the two-day event. The Great Midwest Wrestler of the Meet, Great Midwest Elite 25 Award Winner and the team championship trophy presentation will also take place following the final dual scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET.
Fans/spectators will be asked to wait in the main competition area for approximately 15 minutes while the coaches cast their vote.