The men’s wrestling team won their second dual meet of the season over the Alfred State Pioneers last Wednesday by a score of 30-19. This victory snapped a losing streak of seven dual meets, along with a relatively poor performance at the Waynesburg Invitational.

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After three straight forfeits at the 125, 133 and 141 pound weight classes that left Behrend ahead by six points, Brandon Miller suffered a pin loss to Alfred State’s Casey Connor to tie the meet. Mike Galton then put the Pioneers up by three halfway through the meet with a decision over Jake Ognibene. Behrend would win four out of the last five matches to lock up the victory. Sam Svetz, Jake Paulson and Jake Lenhardt all picked up decision victories for the Lions, while Zachary Ishman was able to pin Jacob Cino to ensure the second dual meet victory for the Lions since the revival of the program this year.  

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On Saturday, the team traveled to Uhrichsville, Ohio to compete in a tri-match against the Kent State University at Tuscarawas Golden Eagles and the Case Western Reserve Spartans, respectively. The Lions started out the day with a 30-25 victory against the Golden Eagles.  Unfortunately, the Lions came up short against the Spartans, falling by a score of 39-16, in which the Lions faced a 15-0 deficit to start and were unable to recover.

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In the Case Western match, Jake Ognibene got Behrend their first victory and his second major decision of the year over Thomas Gallagher, bringing the overall score to 15-4. Behrend was only able to obtain two more victories in the meet, those being pinfalls for Svetz over Connor Gordon in the 165 pound weight class and Sam Tubbs over Brian Kent in the 184 pound weight class. This was Tubbs’, who is a freshman, first win as a collegiate wrestler. Five Behrend wrestlers were pinned on the day, including Jake Parsons, Lenhardt and Daniel Bishel.

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Behrend now holds a 3-11 dual meet record on the season, which in hindsight is rather mediocre, but considering the circumstances and that the program is competing in its first season in almost 40 years, they are doing just fine and seem to have a bright future. The Lions will host their third and final home meet of the season against Gannon “B” next Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Erie Hall.