The Eastern Michigan University wrestling squad traveled to Cleveland, Ohio on Friday to face-off against Cleveland State University (4-2, 0-0 EWL). The Eagles returned back to Ypsilanti with a dominant 32-3 victory.
The Eagles (3-1) started the dual, winning the first 8 matches of the day to help build a 29-0 lead. One match was won by pin fall and another by a technical fall. The Eagles only allowed three takedowns on the day, marking the lowest amount of takedowns conceded on the season.
“We did a really good job today, we were very aggressive while we also only allowed our opponents 3 takedowns,” said coach David Bolyard. “Overall we wrestled really hard on top and very efficient at the bottom throughout all the matches.”
The match began with junior Shayne Wireman winning in a 5-3 Decision to give the Eagles the early 3-0 lead. This was Wireman’s first win of the year after starting the season slow, dropping his first three decisions.
Redshirt-sophomore Kyle Springer was next on the mat where he took the lead early at 6-3 and then earned a pin to put Eastern up 9-0. Springer is now 3-1 going into the Keystone Classic.
Two forced decisions by redshirt juniors Nicholas Barber and Devan Marry would help further build Eastern Michigans lead.
Dakota Juarez, a redshirt freshman, made his collegiate debut in Friday’s match, winning in a 9-3 decision in the 165 weight class. Redshirt-junior Jacob Davis also picked up a win in 5-3 decision to bring the Eagles lead to 21-0 over the Vikings.
In the 184 weight-class, Derek Hillman dominated his opponent 15-4, including a technical fall that put the Eagles up 26-0.
The 197 weight class match looked to be the ‘match of the day’. Redshirt-senior Anthony Ambro would go up against a nationally ranked opponent, and earned Eastern Michigan a 3-1 victory in a highly competitive match that gave the Eagles a 29-0 lead.
The heavyweight match between redshirt-sophomore Gage Hutchinson of Eastern Michigan and junior Riley Shaw from Cleveland State, who is number 10 in the country, saw Eastern drop its only points of the day, conceding to a score of 29-3.
The day was finished in the 125 weight-class with Armando Torres winning 7-2 to finish the day for the Eagles in its 32-3 victory.
“Going into this next event [Keystone Classic] we have to continue to build off wins like these,” said Bolyard.
The Eagles will now head to Philadelphia, PA to compete in the Keystone Classic on Sunday Nov. 22. Eastern will go up against schools including Appalachian State University, Indiana University, the University of Pittsburgh, South Dakota State University, Stanford University and North Western University.
