With a tough loss, 21-16, in their Saturday morning match in Thompson Gymnasium against Waynesburg University, Elizabethtown College wrestling also lost their two-match winning streak. Major points were gained by the tech falls from first-year Jesse Meaney (141) and sophomore Phil Landis (197). Not only did he gain his seventh win of the season, but Meaney also got his first career tech fall in 3:37 (17-2) over the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets’ Jake Vitolo.
According to Landis, “The whole point of wrestling is to control your opponent,” and control the opponent he did. He gave the Blue Jays a shot at winning the match with a tech fall (15-0) at 4:34 that brought the team up to 18-16. With the chance of an almost victory, the heavyweight match was taken by the Yellow Jackets’ Marty Kilsa 4-2.
“We are missing some of our big guns,” Head Coach Eric Walker said. With injuries present throughout the team, the other members need to be ready to step up and work harder than they already are. “Get the cardio up. Get the morale up,” is what Landis is hoping will happen for him and his fellow teammates. Sophomore Steven Paul (197) hopes the team stops getting injured. For each of their own personal improvements, Landis wants to get his cardio up, while Paul wants to get stronger and bigger.
When asked what his expectations were going into the weekend’s matches, Walker simply said his expectations were “high.” Landis and Paul had hopes of getting the pin. Although no one got a pin in the match against Waynesburg, the team got three straight individual wins starting with sophomore Zeke Zimmer (174), continuing with sophomore Dylan Carmichael (184) and ending with Landis (197). Walker explained that the team is going through some “midseason pains.” He hopes to win the small battles within each match, because without those victories the team will lose. His main focus is to win the small battles and to hustle.
While the players were busy working hard against Waynesburg, eight other members of the team were in preparation to take action at Messiah’s Open the same day, and they came out with two place winners. First-year John Archangelo (125) took fifth, while junior Michael Henning (133) got sixth. Archangelo came back from a first round pin to win two wrestle back matches. Not only did he defeat teammate sophomore Corey Aspril on a fall at 1:51, but he also took down fellow teammate first-year Tim Miranda by major decision, 8-0, in the consolation quarterfinals. To end his day, Archangelo got a tech fall in the fifth place match in 3:39 (18-0).
During the consolation quarterfinals, Henning gained another win against Messiah’s Andres Gutierrez, 5-1. He then fell to third-place finisher Josh Polacek from the University of Maryland in the consolation semifinals, 10-4, and to James McCabe from SUNY Brockport, 7-2, in their fifth place match.
Miranda (125) won a decision over Tanavung Tim from SUNY Cortland in the first round only to fall to Archangelo in the next round. Plfanz (133) won his only round in his first round bout with Wilkes University’s Ryan Smith.
With a conference record currently standing at 2-1, Walker is not that concerned. Instead, he is more concerned about winning all of the dual meets where weight is essential. The coach’s other focus is planning for the postseason. The hard work of this team never stops.
The match that was supposed to be held Friday, Jan. 25 in Thompson Gymnasium against York College was postponed due to weather conditions. The date of the rescheduled match is yet to be determined.