LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 3-ranked Indiana Tech men's wrestling team finished fifth at the NWCA National Duals, held inside the Kentucky International Convention Center, that took place Thursday and Friday. The Warriors defeated No. 17-ranked Thomas More, 38-10, Baker University, 29-14), No. 7-ranked Southeastern University, 30-12, and No. 13-ranked Ottawa University, 30-13, while falling to No. 5-ranked Reinhardt University, 22-10, in their second round matchup. It's the seventh time in program history that the team has placed at the national event and the first time since the 2018-19 season when they took fourth (2021 event did not take place due to COVID-19).
Tech started the duals off strong with a 38-10 win over Thomas More as six of their wins had bonus points attached with
Matthew Gimson,
Nick Gates,
Rahman Johnson and
Eric Vermillion all notching pins, with Gimson's coming in 55 seconds.
Nate Wheeler had a 15-0 tech fall while
Hunter Gasper notched a 12-10 victory.
The Warriors fell behind early to Reinhardt, trailing 11-7 halfway through the dual with the two wins coming from Gimson and Wheeler with 8-0 and 5-1 decisions, respectively. The Eagles took the next two wins with by major decisions to go up 19-7 and while an 8-1 win from Vermillion gave Tech a shot to win still with two matches to go, Reinhardt was able to secure the upset with a 6-0 win at 197-lbs.
Now in the consolation bracket, the Warriors came out strong against Baker to ensure they would be wrestling on the second day of competition thanks to five straight wins, powered by a 20-0 tech fall by Gimson while Tech benefited by a disqualification in the 157-lbs. bout. The Wildcats got on the board with a fall and major decision to cut the deficit to in half, but Vermillion sealed the win with a 14-0 major decision while
Vernon Willis, Jr. ended the dual with a 16-1 tech fall.
After dropping the first match against Southeastern, Gimson started a 4-0 run for the Warriors with a pin at 2:05 that was followed by wins from
Kyle Kantola, Gates and Wheeler to make it a 16-4 lead. The Fire roared back with back-to-back majors to make it a 16-12 dual, but a tech-fall by Vermillion and a 5-3 decision for
Jacob Brandt extinguished the comeback for SEU and moved Tech into the fifth-place match.
In the first-ever matchup between the two programs, the Warriors proved too strong with four straight wins to begin the dual with Gimson notching a 19-1 tech fall to put the Orange and Black up 17-0. The two teams traded the next six bouts, but a pin from Vermillion put the dual out of reach at 27-10 and sealed the win.
Tech now sits at 9-2 in duals action and returns to the mats January 15 as they make the short trip to North Manchester for the Spartan Mat Classic before hosting Rochester University the next day for their first conference dual of the season.
