The Eastern Michigan wrestling team kicked off their season with a 42-0 win over Olivet College on the road on Friday Nov. 11.
Eastern Michigan (1-0) performed their first shutout since the previous season against Michigan State as the Eagles saw five starters who did not perform in the previous season.
“I thought we wrestled how I expected, I thought we wrestled good,” said coach David Bolyard. “I guess for us it was about getting the lead early and getting into that atmosphere and competition.”
Redshirt senior Nick Barber kicked off the dual as he won in a 14-2 major decision over Austin Keeley at the 149 lb. class. The NCAA qualifier was able to give the Eagles the early 4-0 lead.
J.J. Wolfe saw his first start of his career as the redshirt freshman won in a 8-5 decision over Kevin Papak in the 157 weight class. This gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead.
Another redshirt freshman in David Kasper saw his dual debut at the 165 class. Kasper won in a major decision, 13-0, to give the Eagles the 11-0 lead three wrestler in.
Redshirt Senior Jacob Davis dominated at the 174 weight class as he won in a 16-0 technical fall. At the 184, Kayne MacCallum won in a tight match with a 2-0 decision. At the halfway point, Eastern Michigan led, 19-0.
“I thought they did good. We have a lot of young guys in because a couple of our older guys are out right now, just getting healthy,” said Bolyard on having five new starters.
Redshirt sophomore Derek Hillman moved up from 184 to 197 for the 2016 season as he won in a 7-2 decision to extend the lead to 22-0.
Gage Hutchinson returned for his redshirt junior season as the former NCAA qualifier won in a 5-3 decision in the heavyweight division.
Redshirt freshman Noah Gonser saw his dual debut got by early as he forced a fall in the second. Sa’Derian Perry made it back-to-back falls as the redshirt freshman gave the Eagles the 37-0 lead going into the final wrestler.
Redshirt junior Kyle Springer was in clean-up duty as he forced a technical fall with his 23-8 victory to give the Eagles a 42-0 win.
Eastern Michigan will head to Clarion University for their second dual of the year on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 pm.
“There was a couple situations today where we didn’t finish well. I think we were pretty aggressive for the most part tough,” said Bolyard.
