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Squad Goes 2-3 At Nip-And-Tuck Bud Whitehill Duals
Senior Trent Zempel went a perfect 5-0 at the vaunted Bud Whitehill Duals over the weekend.

Williamsport, PA — Two days of nonstop wrestling continually came down to the wire for Messiah this weekend, as the Falcons went 2-3 at the highly-regarded Bud Whitehill Duals at Lycoming College.

All but one of Messiah’s five matches came down to the final wrestler, as junior Zane Bachert and freshman Ethan Covalt combined to go 2-2 in bout-deciding tilts, narrowly keeping the Falcons out of placing at the 20-team event.

“It was another exciting weekend for us, no question,” said Bryan Brunk, Messiah head coach. “It was a bit frustrating to see us not come out on top in some of these close matches, but it was another hard-fought weekend.”

Messiah opened competition with an 18-23 defeat to 30th-ranked Trine University Friday, but responded with a pair of wins in the afternoon, defeating Hunter College 18-15 and Thiel College 23-18. Saturday brought a bit more heartbreak for Brunk, however, as the Falcons dropped a 23-13 decision to 29th-ranked Olivet College before falling to number 28 Springfield College 20-18.

“You always want to wrestle top-notch competition, so for us to go against three more nationally-ranked teams was more great experience for our guys,” Brunk said. “From a team perspective, we would have liked to come out on top, though.”

Messiah (7-7) had its chances against Trine, led by senior Trent Zempel’s pin of George Markou at 165. The Thunder rattled off decisions at 174 and 197 — including a major decision at 184 — before Bachert fell 8-1 in the heavyweight bout, turning a 20-18 Trine lead into the 23-18 final.

Zempel continued his solid wrestling throughout the two-day event, defeating Hunter’s Matt Cartusciello 9-3 and Thiel’s Alex Miller 1-0 en route to going 5-0 on the weekend. Freshman Travis Ebersole was the only other Messiah wrestler to go throughout the weekend, opening his action with a 6-3 decision over Thiel’s Patrick Morris at 184.

Against Hunter, Covalt came up with a crucial 1-0 win over the Hawks’ Dan Hederbrand in the heavyweight match, unlocking a 15-15 tie to give Messiah both the team win and a bit of retribution over a 15-22 loss at Hunter back on Dec. 12. Against Thiel, it was Bachert coming up big, defeating the Tomcats’ Kraig Smith by a 3-2 score to wrap up the 23-18 team decision.

“Hard-fought wrestling,” Brunk repeated. “We needed guys to come through and they did.”

Sadly for Messiah, it was not to be Saturday against either Olivet or Springfield, as the day-opening tilt against the Comets was the Falcons’ only match to be decided before the heavyweights took the mat. A pin from freshman Josh Bressler at 157 and a 10-0 major decision from Zempel at 165 produced all of the Falcons’ points.

Brunk’s group was able to claim wins at six of the 10 weights against Springfield, but losses by pin in two of the three defeats gave the Pride enough bonus points to eke out a 20-18 victory. Bachert claimed an 8-1 win over Springfield’s Ron Busco in the heavyweight bout, but Messiah needed bonus points to capture the team decision, eventually falling by the narrow 20-18 spread.

Sophomore Danny Lethbridge finished 3-2 on the weekend while classmate Matt Cross went 2-1. Ebersole’s other win came against Jeremy Burns of Springfield — a 9-5 win at the 197 card.

“We had a number of guys go .500 over the weekend, but I know they wanted better,” Brunk said. “We’ll come back, looking to improve in all areas.”

Fourth-ranked Ithaca College won the team title at the event, defeating seventh-ranked The College of New Jersey by a 25-11 score in the final bout of the weekend. Cortland State University finished third in the team standings.

Detailed information of all 20 teams participating at the event is available at the official site of the Bud Whitehill Duals.

Messiah will now take a week to prepare before traveling back to arch-rival Lycoming College for a dual match Friday. The Falcons and the Warriors will hook up at 7 p.m.