Five wrestlers won their matches, but it was not enough to secure a victory for the Jays against King’s College Wednesday, Feb. 6. King’s College defeated Elizabethtown College in Wilkes-Barre by a final tally of 24-19, setting the Jays back to an overall record of 4-3 for the year.
The wins for Etown included senior brothers Colin and Zack Sheridan and sophomores Zeke Zimmer, Phil Landis and Jeremy Rieth. Colin Sheridan (149) had the lone pin of the night for the Jays, coming at the 4:24 mark. This pin got Etown on the board, after King’s took an early 16-0 advantage. Zack Sheridan (157) then immediately followed with a 3-1 victory over his opponent. Zimmer (174) put up a career high in points, beating his opponent 22-10. Landis (197) and Rieth (285) closed the match with two solid victories at the respective scores of 16-9 and 4-2. Rieth’s win was especially satisfying for him, as it came against an opponent that had beaten Rieth in all three of their previous meetings.
Head Coach Eric Walker believed the team could have done better. While he noted the strong matches of the winning wrestlers, he thought they let a few matches get away from them as a team. He believed that with some more fight in those losing matches, the final results could have been different. “I think we have an extremely talented team but yet very young, so last night was where we were making some youthful mistakes,” Walker noted. Those youthful mistakes will decrease with experience, so Walker believes the future is bright for the young Jays.
Etown had a disadvantage from the start of the match, as three wrestlers were unable to compete. Junior Kyle McNulty (125), first-year Chad Lammer (133) and first-year Jesse Meaney (141) all sat out on Wednesday evening. The rest of the Jays were unable to make up for this setback. However, morale is still up for the remainder of the season. Sophomore Corey Aspril stated, “If the team has the full lineup at our disposal, I’m confident that the team is tough enough to compete and beat any team out there.” Missing those three wrestlers definitely played a role in the loss, but the team’s high spirits are definitely a good sign. Hopefully, this confidence reflects positively on their performance for the rest of the season.
Etown’s match against eighth ranked Delaware Valley College scheduled for Friday, Feb. 8 was cancelled due to inclement weather. Their next match will be against Messiah College and York College this coming Friday evening at 6 p.m. in Thompson Gymnasium. It is senior night, so come show your support at the final home match of the season.