Spartans breeze past Aquinas, Weston/Ithaca
For Aquinas, it was skin issues. The Weston/Ithaca dual? Bad weather. However, it's a new week. Aquinas was good to go and while cold, the snow stayed away for Weston/Ithaca. That meant a rare double dual night and it also translated into two more dual victories for the Spartans. Sparta improved to 3-1 in the MVC with a 47-28 mashing of Aquinas and followed it up with a solid 41-29 victory over Weston/Ithaca.Aquinas was unable to fill two weight classes leading to forfeit victories for the Spartans while Sparta was still without Joseph Benish at heavyweight. There were no real surprises in the decisions. At 126 pounds, Steven Kelly wrestled a tough match against the 9th ranked wrestler at 126 pounds in division three in Jordan Corcoran. Sparta picked up bonus points in every match via pin, technical fall or forfeit en route to winning eight of 14 matches. Let's see how the dual went down...138 - Tristan Zurfluh pinned Ethan Reid (Aquinas) in 1:30145 - Mason Miller (Aquinas) pinned Haydn Bernett in 1:43152 - Dillon Erickson pinned Scott Ring (Aquinas) in 2:52160 - Austin Stenger (Aquinas) defeated Walker Polhamus 3-2170 - Greg Skon won by technical fall over Chris Poellinger (Aquinas) 18-3182 - Kyle Burkhalter pinned Paul McGettigan (Aquinas) in 3:46195 - Daniel Dawley won by forfeit220 - Chase Bernett pinned Emil Walleser (Aquinas) in 2:43285 - Caleb Pedretti (Aquinas) won by forfeit106 - Nick Burns (Aquinas) won by technical fall over Corey Zimmerman 18-3113 - Dylan Winchel won by forfeit120 - John Roddick won by forfeit126 - Jordan Corcoran (Aquinas) defeated Steven Kelly 6-0132 - Hank Lichter (Aquinas) won by technical fall against Austin Feltner 15-0SPARTA 47 - AQUINAS 28In the night cap, the Spartans fell behind early to Weston/Ithaca before winning five of the last six matches to erase a 13-25 deficit heading into the 106 bout. Like the Aquinas match earlier in the night, the Spartans picked up loads of bonus points. In the eight matches the Spartans won, seven came by way of pin, technical fall, major decision or forfeit. There was no Sparta Invite finals rematch between John Roddick and Stetson Clary as Clary moved up to 126 to wrestle Steven Kelly. Roddick would defeat another Clary though in Kyle Clary by pin in an efficient 46 seconds. Let's see how everyone did against Weston/Ithaca...145 - Haydn Bernett pinned Austin Kast (Weston/Ithaca) in 1:57152 - Clayton Prouty (Weston/Ithaca) defeated Dillon Erickson 11-5160 - Cody Willis (Weston/Ithaca) pinned Walker Polhamus in 2:29170 - Greg Skon defeated Mason McCauley (Weston/Ithaca) 9-4182 - Kyle Burkhalter won by major decision against Morgan Seep (Weston/Ithaca) 9-0195 - Wyatt Seep (Weston/Ithaca) defeated Daniel Dawley 16-6220 - Atticus Sharp (Weston/Ithaca) pinned Chase Bernett in 3:11285 - Ossian Sharp (Weston/Ithaca) won by forfeit106 - Corey Zimmerman won by forfeit113 - Dylan Winchel pinned Jordan Rupp (Weston/Ithaca) in 1:10120 - John Roddick pinned Kyle Crary (Weston/Ithaca) in 0:46126 - Stetson Clary (Weston/Ithaca) won by major decision against Steven Kelly 17-3132 - Austin Feltner won by forfeit138 - Tristan Zurfluh won by major decision against Nick Bennett (Weston/Ithaca) 12-0SPARTA 41 - WESTON/ITHACA 29The victory against Aquinas pushes the Spartans MVC record to 3-1 and 7-3 overall. Next up for the Spartans is a dual tonight at La Crosse Central, which should be a quick one as Central features a lot of guys named forfeit. Against Holmen earlier this year, they forfeited six matches. However, if you do make it over to Central to watch the dual, keep your eyes on the 113 pound bout. If Central's Ben Thornton faces off against Dylan Winchel, it will be a matchup of the top-ranked wrestler at 113 pounds in division one and the top ranked wrestler at the same weight class in division two.