Lakeland College

Muskie wrestlers compete at Wheaton Pete Willson Invite

Athletics - posted on 2/2/2013

WHEATON, Ill. - The Lakeland College wrestling team faced terrific competition from around the Midwest and beyond this weekend, competing at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational hosted by Wheaton (Ill.) College.

The Muskies racked up 18 team points to finish 23rd in the team standings in the two-day event which began Friday and concluded Saturday. The University of Wisconsin-Parkside won the team title with 151.5 points, with Messiah (Pa.) College second with 105 points and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse third with 87 points.

Several Lakeland grapplers led the way with two individual wins each. Grant Franson (Jr.-Lindenhurst, Ill.) won twice in the wrestleback at 125 lbs., defeating Joe Meylor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater by a 3-2 decision and then earning a pin of Daniel Rodriguez of Messiah in 3:45. He was then pinned in 2:17 by Nicolas Santos of North Central (Ill.) College, just missing a chance at a top-eight finish.

Marcus McCauley (Fr.-Hillpoint, Wis.) also came back from an opening loss to win twice, defeating Doug Hayes of John Carroll (Ohio) University by fall in 3:21 and then winning a 5-1 decision over Joseph Ellis of the University of Chicago. He was knocked out by Jesse Meaney of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College by a 7-2 score, also missing out on a chance at the top eight.

Wesley Colton (Fr.-Machesney Park, Ill.) won his opening match at 174 lbs., defeating Ryan Brubaker of Case Western Reserve (Ohio) 7-2. He then lost to second seed Matt Burns of Augustana (Ill.) College before coming back with a 13-6 win over Brett Thumm of Wabash (Ind.) College. Colton then was eliminated by Casey Kenealy of Concordia University Wisconsin by fall in 6:33.

Jeremy Kroeger (So.-Villa Park, Ill.) also added two wins at 197 lbs., with a first round pin of Justin Meineke of Mount St. Joseph (Ind.) College and a wrestleback decision over Seth Kilkelly of Concordia Wisconsin sandwiched around a second round loss by 7-3 decision to Andrew Simpson of Olivet (Mich.) College.

The Muskies will be in action Friday night for their final home match of the season. Lakeland will host Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7 p.m.