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DeHart, Zempel Lead Falcons' Efforts At Annual Pete Wilson Invite
Senior Alex DeHart finished fourth amongst all 141-pounders at this weekend's Pete Wilson Invitational.

Wheaton, IL — Senior Alex DeHart finished fourth at 141 and classmate Trent Zempel fifth at 165 to lead Messiah at this weekend’s Pete Wilson Invitational at Wheaton College.

The tandem registered 29.5 of Messiah’s total 49.5 points at the individual tournament, helping the Falcons to a 14th-place team finish out of 30 competing institutions — a notable improvement from last year’s 20th-place result.

DeHart and Zempel were joined by senior Domineak Commodore and junior David Jones to make it to the second day of competition in the two-day event — the latter tandem just missing on placing in the 149-pound and 174-pound brackets, respectively.

“It was an okay finish for us,” said Bryan Brunk, Messiah head coach. “I think we had a pretty good first day, but it was more of a frustrating second day than anything else.”

Most of that frustration came from Zempel who, as the top-seeded wrestler in the 165-pound bracket, suffered a pair of losses by fall to start his Saturday.

Zempel went a perfect 3-0 in Friday’s action, taking a pair of major decisions following a pin of his own over Knox College’s Danny Stafford to open the weekend.

Saurday was a bit rougher, however, as fourth-seeded Matt Gille of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside took advantage of a rare mistake, pinning the Conrad, Mont. native at the 1:43 mark.

Placed in the third-place bracket as a result, Zempel fell by fall to seventh-seeded Geroke Markou of Trine University, completing a two-match series that Brunk doubted had ever occurred before.

“I think that’s the first time in Trent’s life that he’s been pinned twice in a row,” Brunk said. “He made a mistake against Gille, getting headlocked to his back. Then, against Markou, he came out very aggressive, and made another mistake. It was a very frustrating day for Trent, to say the least. But, he bounced back and showed some heart in the fifth-place match, and that’s hard to do when you’re expected to win (the bracket) and wind up fifth.”

Zempel concluded his tournament with a 2-0 win over fifth-seeded Jake Frias of Lakeland College in the fifth-place bout.

DeHart, meanwhile, provided a bit of a spark to the program, entering the 141 bracket as the sixth seed, finishing fourth behind a bevy of solid performances.

DeHart won his first match Friday but fell to third-seeded and eventual champion Austin Bautlista of Wisconsin-Whitewater by a 12-6 score in his second appearance, putting the Highstown, N.J. native in the wrestle-back bracket. He shined from that point, however, claiming three dominant victories before narrowly falling to second-seeded and nationally 10th-ranked Jake Strausbaugh by a 13-8 score in the third-place bout.

“Alex really had a great weekend,” Brunk said. “He rattled off three straight wins in excellent fashion. It was great to see him wrestle well at this stage of the season.”

Jones finished 3-2 overall and Commodore 2-2 before bowing out on Saturday; Commodore recording a pin against 6:13 against fifth-seeded Johnny Dillon of Wabash College and Jones recording two wins by fall before bowing out to seventh-seeded Danial Johnhenry of Heidelberg University.

“Those were pretty good results for Dave and Domineak,” Brunk said.

Wisconsin-Parkside captured the team championship at the event, earning a total of 175.5 points to edge out Heidelberg (108.5 points). Elmhurst College’s Mark Corsello was named the George Olson Outstanding Wrestler. Complete details from the two-day event are available at the official site of the Pete Wilson Invitational.

Messiah will next host its first home dual match of the season, as the Falcons will welcome Johns Hopkins University to Brubaker Auditorium next Friday. Match time is set for 7 p.m.