Six Wrestlers Highlighted In d3wrestle.com Pre-Season Rankings
Posted: 10/20/2009
More Wrestling news
Senior Trent Zempel will open the season ranked sixth among all 165-pounders, according to d3wrestle.com.

Grantham, PA — Five Messiah wrestlers have been highlighted in the d3wrestle.com 2009-2010 pre-season rankings, the entity announced Tuesday.

Senior Trent Zempel led the way, being named the sixth-rated grappler at the 165-pound weight class — a tremendous honor considering that the Conrad, Mont. native missed the majority of the 2008-2009 schedule with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Zempel’s reputation precedes him, however, as he was a national qualifier in the 2007-2008 season, coming within a point of earning All-American honors as a sophomore. As a junior, Zempel was 15-2 and ranked 10th among all 165 pounders before suffering the season-ending injury.

Fellow senior Domineak Commodore was listed as a Contender by d3wrestle.com in the 133-pound weight class, as were juniors Mike Bressler (157), Dave Jones (174) and Pat Hogan (197). Commodore finished third in the Empire Wrestling Conference last season, posting an 8-7 record — bettering his career mark to 14-13.

Bressler also finished third in the Empire last season, and just missed qualifying to nationals as an Empire Conference runner-up in 2008. He finished with a 29-13 record last season, moving his career mark to 57-26.

Perhaps Messiah’s most notable improvement came in the 174-pound weight class, as Jones finished third in the conference and 25-8 on the year, improving his overall record to 54-26.

Hogan, meanwhile, will compete for Messiah for the first time in 2009-2010, arriving as a transfer from NCAA Division I Liberty University. The Cranford, NJ native has posted over 30 college wins in a year and a half of competition, and was an undefeated New Jersey state champion while in high school.

Hogan was listed as a d3wrestle.com Contender at 197, but will most likely see time in the 184-pound weight class.

The complete d3wrestle.com pre-season rankings are now available online, in pdf format.

Messiah opens its 2009-2010 season in just over two weeks, as the team will host the Messiah Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 7. Matches are set to begin at 10 a.m.