FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fourteen Saint John’s wrestling student-athletes completed the two-day Citrus Invitational on Friday, Dec. 30, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Wrestlers who suffered two losses Thursday and were eliminated, as well as those that recorded their second loss Friday morning, were added to separate “warrior” (single-elimination, consolation) brackets in adjacent to the main tournament.
Junior Ben Gilbertson (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) led SJU with a 5-3 record to take second place in Friday’s Warrior bracket at 184 pounds. He won his first two matches Thursday before he suffered a 5-0 loss to seventh-ranked Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann of Augsburg in the quarterfinal and bounced to the Warrior bracket with an 11-5 defeat to William Smith of Williams (Mass.). Friday was a different story, however. Gilbertson started the day with three-straight wins – two first-period pins and a major decision – before he dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to Stefan Farian of John Carroll (Ohio) in the title bout.
Sophomore Logan Thorsten (Foley, Minn.) and freshman Teagyn Ludwig (Richmond, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins) both finished fourth at 157 and 133 pounds, respectively. Both wrestlers went 0-2 Thursday but bounced back with 2-1 records Friday. Thorsten held his opponent to one point in a pair of decision victories before he fell to Christian Hite of Ferrum (Va.), 10-3, in the semifinal. Ludwig, meanwhile, opened the Warrior bracket with a pin and major decision, but ran out of gas in a technical-fall loss to Evan Husko of Cornell (Iowa) in the semis.
The Johnnies travel to Pella, Iowa, next Saturday, Jan. 7, for Central’s Under Armour Invitational at 10 a.m.
125 -Marcus Hayes (0-3)
133 -Teagyn Ludwig (Fourth/Warrior, 2-3)
141 -Andrew LeMire (1-3)
149 -Luke Dorweiler (0-3)
157 -Logan Thorsten (Fourth/Warrior, 2-3)
165 -Sam Hamilton (1-3); -Nate Langer (1-3); -Jacob Vaughan (1-3)
174 -Hayden LeMonds (2-3); -Dan Miller (0-3)
184 -Ben Gilbertson (Second/Warrior, 5-3); -Tyler Karas (0-3)
197 -James Diaz (0-3)
285 -Thomas Allen (0-3)
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