From University of Chicago Athletics
Clutch performances from the higher weights gave the University of Chicago wrestling team a pair of wins while hosting the Chicago Duals on Saturday.
The six-team field included UChicago, Wabash College, St. John's University, University of Dubuque, Manchester University and Harper College. Each team competed in three dual meets over the course of the afternoon.
"We wrestled Wabash first; they are ranked second in the country and deserve it," said Head Coach Leo Kocher. "I was pleased with our three wins against them. They are where we want to be, so it was good to wrestle them. Our next dual was against Manchester, and things kind of went sideways on us. But we had some heroics at the end and won our last three matches with an overtime win, a clutch fall and a one-point victory to end it. Against Harper, we had a bunch of guys step up and came away with the team victory. To go 2-1, I felt it was a good day."
UChicago's first opponent of the day was No. 2-ranked Wabash, who won by a score of 34-14. The Maroons came away with three weight-class triumphs. Freshman Devan Richter started the dual strong with an offensive-filled 27-16 win at 125 pounds. Sophomore Paul Papoutsis won via major decision, 12-4, at 165 pounds. Senior Mario Palmisano accounted for the third tally with a second-period pin at heavyweight.
Manchester University was the next opponent up. Richter put the home team up six points right away with a first-period pin. The Spartans responded by winning the next four matches to go ahead 18-6. Papoutsis halted the streak with a dominating technical fall (18-2). UChicago needed three wins to close out, and each wrestler delivered. Freshman Nicholas DiNapoli scored an escape point in overtime to win 2-1 at 184 pounds, and junior David Gremling (197 pounds) pinned his opponent right away. That left Palmisano at heavyweight and the senior came through with a narrow 3-2 victory thanks to a third-period escape. UChicago took the dual by a final score of 23-21.
The final match-up of the day featured UChicago versus Harper College. Senior Adam Wyeth grabbed an 8-7 win at 133 pounds and freshman Elliot Henderson won via injury default at 141 pounds. Papoutsis and freshman Nick Ferraro (174 pounds) put together back-to-back pins to give the Maroons a three-point lead. Harper tied the team score at 21-21 heading into the last two weight classes. Gremling and Palmisano provided wins once again with a decision and a pin, respectively. The final team score was 30-21 in favor of UChicago.
Palmisano and Papoutsis both went 3-0 on the day while Richter and Gremling were 2-1 in their matches.