Sonntag Wins 149 lb. WHAC Championship; Cougars Finish in Fifth
(Fort Wayne, IN)-- For the second consecutive season, the Cleary Cougar wrestling team has an individual WHAC Champion, as the team competed in the WHAC Championships on the campus of Indiana Tech Saturday.
In 125 lb: Jordan Rodriguez would win his first round match against Mykale Schneider of Siena Heights in an 11-2 major decision. Rodriguez would drop his semifinal matchup to Indiana Tech's Tyler Hisey by an 8-5 decision, sending him to the consolation bracket semifinals. In the consolation semis, Rodriugez suffered a 9-4 decision defeat to Indiana Tech's Trevor Hisey, putting Rogriugez in the 5th place bout. Rodriguez would win over Siena Heights' Maliki Mosher by fall in 6:21 to claim 5th place
In 141 lb.: Jake Lynn would lose his first round match, sending him to the consolation bracket. After receiving a bye, Lynn would earn a technical fall over Defiance's Matthew Wheeler 19-4 in 6:02, and after a forfeit, Lynn would advance to the consolation semifinals. In the semis, Lynn would drop a match by pin, and in the eventual fifth place match, h would suffer an 11-0 major decision defeat, earning 6th place
In 149 lb: Grayson Sonntag would be the Cougars' top finisher at the meet. In his first round match, he defeated #2 seed Tiernan Boots of Marian 19-2 in a technical fall in 7:00. Sonntag would advance by disqualification over Rochester Christian's Hunter Thomson, in his quarterfinal match, though he was winning 17-3 at the time of the decision. In the semifinals, Sonntag would earn a 14-9 decision over #3 seed Mike Loney, sending Sonntag to the finals where he would be matched up against #1 seed Cole Karasinski from Cornerstone. In the match, Sonntag would find himself trailing 4-1 heading into the final period. He would earn a point by escape with 1:25 remaining, and with 0:16 on the clock, Cleary would throw the challenge brick, as Sonntag appeared to have earned a takedown that was not called. The referees huddled, and awarded Sonntag the takedown, giving him three more points, and a 5-4 victory to claim 1st place. All four wrestlers Sonntag defeated were nationally ranked.
Preston Auld would drop his first match by fall, and then his first consolation bracket match by fall.
In 157 lb: Louden Stradling would earn a round one victory by technical fall 15-0, but he dropped his quarterfinal matchup 9-7 to send him to the consolation bracket. In the consolation bracket, Stradling would earn a pin over Siena Heights' Lee Borders in 1:42, sending him on where he would be matched up with teammate Jack Gruno. Gruno got there by losing his opening match by technical fall, and then earning a technical fall 15-0 against Lourdes' Bryson Bonds-Crawford. Stradling would have to withdraw due to illness, and Gruno advanced to the consolation semis where he suffered a 15-10 decision defeat. Gruno would be matched up with Peyton Frederick in the fifth place match, where Gruno would win by medical forfeit, earning 5th place
In 165 lb.: Justin Major would suffer a defeat in his first round match by technical fall, sending him to the consolation bracket, where he was matched up with teammate Ben Blyveis. Blyveis got there by losing by fall in his opening round match, and then earning a pin against Lourdes' Jeremiah McKinney. Justin Major would win his intrasquad bout by fall in 3:33, and then dropped his consolation semifinal match by fall, sending him to the fifth place match. Major would earn a medical forfeit victory, claiming 5th place
In 184 lb: Rodney Winston would suffer a 6-5 decision defeat in his first match, and then was disqualified in his consolation bracket match.
In 285 lb: Tunde Oroye would claim a victory by fall over Halder Alhajri of Lourdes to advance to th semifinals. In that match, he was paired with #1 seed Ian Clifford of Indiana Tech. Clifford would win 2-1 after two overtimes and tiebreakers, sending Oroye to the third place match. In that match, Oroye was pinned, and finished in 4th place
As a team, Cleary would earn 76 team points, and finished in 5th place.
Also announced at the meet were the WHAC All-Conference, Champions of Character, and All-Academic awards.
Grayson Sonntag would be named First-Team All-WHAC after his 149 lb. championship to highlight the award for the Cougars.
Jack Gruno was named as Cleary's representative to the Champion of Character team, for best representing the five core character values of the NAIA.
Also recognized were student-athletes who were named to the All-Academic Team. To be honored, student-athletes must have had at least a 3.25 cumulative GPA and have attended Cleary for at least one full year. They were (in alphabetical order):
Preston Auld
Ben Blyveis
Jack Gruno
Jake Lynn
*Picture Courtesy of Dalton Clark - Indiana Tech Sports Information*