Wheaton Hosts Annual Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational

Last weekend 29 teams and over 250 wrestlers converged on Wheaton’s campus for the nation’s oldest and largest small school wrestling tournament, the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational.

Pete Willson served as a coach for the Wheaton wrestling program from 1964 to 1990 after graduating from Wheaton in 1950. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Hall of Fame after his retirement in 1990. After the 2001 invitational, the event was renamed in his honor.

According to the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III rankings, the invitational featured 34 wrestlers that entered the weekend ranked in the top 10 of their respective weight classes, including three that were ranked number one. There were also nine teams that ranked in the top 30 in the NWCA Team Rankings, including three out of the top five.

After two days of wrestling that included a total of 470 matches, University of Wisconsin-Parkside emerged as the team champion for the second straight year with 151.5 points. Finishing in second with 105 points was Messiah College, while Wisconsin-La Crosse came in third with 87 points.

Wheaton’s 53 points were good enough to place the team in a tie for 11th place with Ohio Northern University.

In the individual matches, the Thunder placed four grapplers in the top eight. Sophomore Mark Savenok came in third in the 157-pound weight class, senior Darren Faber finished fourth at 197-pounds, sophomore Peter Huang finished fifth at 165-pounds and junior Matt McCrary took eighth in the 174-pound weight class.

After missing the tournament due to an injury in his freshman year, Savenok was grateful for the chance to participate in the prestigious event this time around.

“Last year I was injured and couldn’t wrestle in this tournament, so it meant a lot to wrestle in it,” Savenok said. “We have alumni who come in from out-of-state just to watch this tournament, so I was very thankful to have the opportunity to battle for my school.”

Savenok started the tournament on Friday by defeating Pierce Holtfreter of Concordia (Wis.) by technical fall, 22-7. Savenok followed that up by winning a 6-2 decision over Mount St. Joseph’s Thomas Fehring to advance to the quarterfinal round.

Facing fourth-ranked Terner Gott of John Carroll University, Savenok trailed by a score of 9-8 with under five seconds remaining in the match, but he was able to earn a takedown with three seconds left to take the match 10-9 and advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.

Savenok credited his coaches for helping him get past the top-five opponent Gott with a late rally.

“Coach Gruenwald always preaches ‘find a way to win,’ and that kept playing in my head. I needed the takedown to win it and as the seconds counted down I remembered Coach Terrazas yelling to me, ‘Trust in your training!’ I tried three different shots in the last seconds and I finally got in on his legs and secured the takedown,” Savenok said.

Savenok was pinned by eventual 157-pound champion Elias Larson, the nation’s number one ranked 157-pound wrestler, at the 2:43 mark of his semifinal match. In the consolation bracket, Savenok defeated Jon Garrison of University of Mount Union by a 12-6 decision to advance to the third place match, where he took a 6-3 decision over University of Chicago’s Jim Layton to finish third in the tournament. It was the highest finish for a Thunder wrestler.

Faber started in the second round after a first round bye. In his second-round match against Augustana College’s Jake Melik, Faber won in a fall at 3:15.

Faber advanced to the semifinals after winning a 6-0 decision over ninth-ranked Phillip Landis of Elizabethtown College to close out action on Friday.

Faber lost 2-0 to the eventual 197-pound champion Davion Willis of Wisconsin-Parkside to open the day on Saturday, sending him to the consolation bracket. Faber beat Chicago’s Mario Palmisano 11-7 in his first consolation match before losing 7-4 in a rematch against Landis in the third place match.

Huang opened the 165-pound tournament by defeating University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Matt Koch in a fall at 3:53. Huang won his next two matches in the second round and the quarterfinal round with a 6-1 decision over John Carroll’s Matt Tusick and an 8-5 decision over University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Tyler Becker, respectively.

Nick Fishback of Wisconsin-Parkside defeated Huang 8-0 in a major decision in the semifinal round, making Huang the third Wheaton wrestler to lose in the semifinal round to open up Saturday’s matches. Huang lost his first consolation match in a 7-3 decision to Ricardo Plummer of Messiah College, but rebounded to defeat Yousef Al-Ghoul of Elmhurst College in the fifth place match.

McCrary, the sixth seed in the 174-pound weight class, advanced to the quarterfinals after earning a bye in the first round and beating Mitchell King of Muskingum University 6-3 in the second round. Trine University’s Ryan Pieper, the seventh-ranked 174-pound grappler, bumped McCrary to the consolation bracket with a 9-7 victory in the quarterfinals, but McCrary bounced back with a win over Daniel Threlkeld of Elmhurst in a 19-2 Technical Fall. Jeremy Stepp of Heidelberg University defeated McCrary 5-3 in the next round, and McCrary lost to Wisconsin-Parkside’s Josh Anthony in the seventh place match to close out the tournament.

The George Olson Outstanding Wrestler Award went to Larson, who also won the Jack Swartz Award for the most falls in the least amount of time. Larson had four falls in 10:56. Kaleb Loht (141 pounds) of Messiah took home the Pete George Sportsmanship Award, while Augustana’s Connor Cummings earned the Fastest Fall Award with his fall in 0:31 against Manchester’s Bryce Roberts in a consolation match of the 165-pound tournament.

Wheaton’s overall team record stands at 5-7. The Thunder wrestlers will next take the mat tomorrow at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational at 9 a.m.