Contact: Ben Nordman, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Results

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Dec. 21, 2018) - With momentum shifting multiple times throughout the dual, the North Central College men's wrestling team found themselves ahead after the final match in their dual against University of Chicago on Friday evening.

The Cardinals got off to a great start, winning the first three matches of the evening. At 125, Ian Mullen controlled the match throughout, coming out with a 15-3 major decision for his 18th win on the season. Directly following was Jaime Suarez, scoring a 7-2 decision at 133 to make the score 7-0. Marc Fleenor followed suit with a 14-5 major decision to increase the Cardinal lead to 11-0.

The Maroons (1-1) bounced back and stole the momentum at 149, with Cole Riemer taking a 5-3 decision over Anthony Rink. Chicago kept rolling at 157, with Steve Bonsall pinning Rafael Roman to get the score to 10-9 after an unsportsmanlike conduct on North Central resulted in a lost team point. With all the momentum on their side, the Maroons scored another victory, with Kahlan Lee-Lermer recording a 4-0 decision at 165 against Ben Williamson to take a 12-10 lead. The lead widened at 174, with Kyle Peisker recording another 4-0 decision over Cam Hayes.

The Cardinals would not relent though, with Cody Baldridge getting a big 5-3 decision at 184 to bring the Cardinals within two points. Tyler Vittal followed at 197, getting the crowd into the action with takedown after takedown, eventually pinning his opponent at 5:46. With the score at 19-15 going into the 285 lbs. weight class, Audel Ochoa added on, controlling his Chicago opponent and taking the 6-4 decision to bring the final score to 22-15 in favor of North Central.

The Cardinals (5-2, 1-0 CCIW) are not in action again until January 8, when they host the Elmhurst College Bluejays in the Battle of the Birds' Nest at home, looking to keep the trophy that they won last year.