Rio's Wagers finishes third at MSC Championship

Rio Grande Sports Information
     BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Bruce Wagers posted a third-place finish to lead the University of Rio Grande men's wrestling at the Mid-South Conference Championships, which took place Friday at the Ephram White Gymnasium.
     Wagers, a senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, started his day in the 285-pound division by dropping an 8-4 decision to Trey White of the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.), but finished with a trio of wins.
     He defeated Jaylin Bien-aime of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) University by fall at 2:00 and then advanced by injury default over Miguel Perez of Lindsey Wilson to reach the third place match.
     Wagers capped his day by defeating White in a rematch, posting a 15-0 technical fall triumph at the 7:00 mark.
     As a team, Rio Grande finished sixth among the seven competing schools with 49 points.
     Cumberlands tallied 168 points to edge Cumberland (Tenn.) University (165.5 pts.) for the team title. Campbellsville University was third with 156 points.
     Rio Grande also picked up a fifth place finish by senior Ashton Simison (Enon, OH) at 197 pounds, while freshman Jaydon DeHart (Ashland, KY) placed sixth at 133 pounds and senior Mackandle Freeman (Point Pleasant, WV) did the same at 157 pounds.
     Simison was pinned by Cumberland University at 2:25 of his opening match before receiving a bye in his first round consolation match.
     He was then pinned by Midway University's Stephen Browning at 2:18 of their consolation semifinal and received a bye in the fifth place match.
     Freeman pinned Emmanuel Chelestin of Lindsey Wilson at 1:19 of his opener in the 157-pound division and followed that up with an 18-1 technical fall triumph over Midway's Andrew Berkon in the quarterfinal round of the championship bracket.
     Freeman then dropped a tough 2-0 decision to Brice Coleman of Cumberlands (Ky.) in the semifinals and fell to Chelestin, 5-4, in a rematch in the consolation semis.
     In the fifth place match, Freeman fell to Elijah Griffin of Cumberland (Tenn.), 8-4.
     DeHart, who was wrestling at 133 pounds, was pinned by Izaeah Beavers from Campbellsville at 2:12 before picking up a forfeit win over Leland Reeves of Georgetown (Ky.) College.
     DeHart was then pinned in the consolation semifinals by Riley Bettich from Cumberlands (Ky.) at 3:46 and lost by pin to Alex Velasquez from Midway at 5:40 of the fifth place bout.
     Five others represented the RedStorm in the tourney.
     Sophomore Benjamin Sloan (Ironton, OH) went 0-2 at 149 pounds, senior Kaylin Foust (Charlotte, NC) went 0-2 in the 157-pound bracket, junior Pate Eastin (Granger, IN) went 2-2 at 165 pounds, freshman John Walters (Ashland, KY) was 0-2 at 165 pounds and senior Justin Bartee (Point Pleasant, WV) finished 0-2 at 184 pounds.
     Eastin received a bye into the championship bracket quarterfinals, but fell to Campbellsville's Jastin Kubwimana by fall at 2:22.
     Eastin then posted back-to-back wins - by technical fall over Georgetown's Sam Daniels and by fall at 1:20 over Michael Colligan of Midway - before dropping a 2-0 decision to Derrick Bannister of Cumberlands (Ky.).