BEREA, Ohio (Feb. 7) -- The Thiel College Wrestling team placed 6th-of-13 teams at Baldwin Wallace's John Summa Invitational Saturday as
Jonathan Bissell (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) claimed the 149-pound title.
Bissell posted a dominant undefeated day with five first-period pins en route to his first collegiate tournament championship. He opened his day taking down Kaleb McCamick (Waynesburg) in 50 seconds then followed it up with his second pin of Alexander Johnson (Alfred State) in 1:18. Bissell pinned Justin Coiteux (St. John Fisher) in the quarterfinals (1:06) and Jack DeBoe (Mount Union) in 1:29 in the semifinal before closing his day with his final pin of Adrian Pigg (Ohio Northern) in 36 seconds.
Bissell now sits at 23-5 on the year with each of his last seven victories coming from pin and each of the last six being first-period pins. Bissell leads the Tomcats with 17 pins.
At 133,
Deshonn Valentine (Somerset, Pa./Somerset Area) placed fourth for his highest collegiate finish. Valentine opend his day with pins over Otterbein's Ryan Hardon (1:29) and Alfred State's Xavier Vargas (3:51) to move to the semifinals. He dropped a tight 7-6 decision to top seed Jackson Orrell (Eastern). He defeated Vincenzo Falsetti (North Central) in the consolation round with a 17-9 major decision before dropping the third place bout to place fourth.
Valentine improves to 9-9 on the season with five pins.
At 165,
Anthony Ceriani (Brookville, Pa./Brookville Area) had his highest collegiate finish, placing fifth. He won a 4-0 decision in his opening bout over Landon Irvin (Ohio Northern) before falling in the quarterfinals. In the consolation bracket, he pinned teammate
Jeremiah Mitchell (Saverna Park, Md./Saverna Park) (1:20) and took a 4-0 decision over Justin Sweeney (CWRU). He was downed in the consolation semis before winning the fifth-place showdown.
Ceriani now has seven wins on the year along with one career pin.
At 157,
Jacob Potts (Oakdale, Pa./South Fayette) had a strong showing to place eighth. He collected wins over Vontez Tyus (W&J) by pin (5:56) and Ethan Bartlett (Ohio Northern) by 11-6 decision.
George Green (Hicksville, Ohio/Hicksville) placed eighth at 184. He collected a 6-1 decision over Thomas Trout (CWRU), a pin (3:39) of Caiden Hooks (Otterbein) and a pin (2:03) of DeShawn Woodhouse (Eastern).
The Tomcats will be back on the mats next Saturday for the PAC Championships from Hiram College. Action is slated to begin at 11 a.m.
