The Eastern Michigan wrestling team was defeated by the no. nine ranked Missouri Tigers at the Convocation Center on Sunday.
The Tigers featured six nationally ranked wrestlers against the two nationally ranked players of Eastern Michigan. Even with the national rank, the Eagles managed to win four of the 10 matches in the 22-12 loss.
“We’re measuring against the best guys and that’s where we want to be,” said coach David Bolyard. “We are a young team, we have guys that are out there competing and our guys are beating some of their guys.”
To kick off the dual, no. 19 Noah Gonser of EMU wrestled no. 17 Barlow McGhee of Missouri. Gonser trailed after the first period but came back to win a 7-4 decision and give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
“Big win for Noah, that’s a kid that has been at the national tournament a couple times and has been ranked ahead of him,” said Bolyard.
No. 15 ranked John Erneste of Missouri defeated Sa’Derian Perry of Eastern Michigan 17-4 and the Tigers took a 4-3 lead. Kyle Springer drops a mjor decision as no. 10 ranked Jayden Eierman defeated him 18-8.
Nick Barber of EMU fell to the no. 4 ranked Lavion Mayes in an 8-5 decision to give the Tigers a 11-3 lead. Zac Carson struggled when he faced no. 7 ranked Joey Lavallee. Carson fell 10-4 but stopped the Tigers from forcing a major decision.
At 165 Devan Marry faced off against no. 7 ranked Daniel Lewis of Missouri. Lewis shut-out Marry and won a major decision 12-0. David Casper of Eastern was up next for the Eagles at 174 against Dylan Wisman. 10-1 major decision for Wisman had the Eagles trailing 22-3.
Kayne MacCallum wrestled for the Eagles at 184 against Matt Lemanowicz of Mizzou. MacCallum gave the Eagles their second victory of the day with a 4-3 decision.
Derek Hillman faced off against Jayden Bears at the 197 weight class. The Tigers were without Olympic bronze medalist and current no. 1 ranked wrestler J’den Cox. Hillman picked up a 4-1 decision to set the score at 22-9 in favor of the Tigers.
No. 14 ranked heavyweight Gage Hutchinson for EMU was matched up with Austin Myers for the final match of the day. Hutchinson got a shutout with a 4-0 win to set the final score a 22-12.
“Gage wrestled smart, wrestled hard. He’s starting to get a reputation,” said Bolyard.
The Eagles will look to rebound when they head on a four-game road-trip. EMU’s first stop will be at Northern Illinois when they face off against the Huskies on Friday at 8 pm.
“Even with matches we lost, I think we showed glimpses of we were the better wrestler,” said Bolyard. “We’ve got to do better backing up and competing for a full seven min.”
