Rio's Freeman posts runner-up finish at Fairmont

Rio Grande Sports Information
     FAIRMONT, W.Va. - Mitchell Freeman posted a runner-up finish, while two of his University of Rio Grande men's wrestling teammates posted placeholder showings in the Fairmont State University Open, Saturday afternoon, at the Feaster Center.
     Freeman, a senior from Point Pleasant, W.Va., won three of his four outings in the 165-pound bracket.
     Junior Justin Bartee (Urbana, OH) also finished fourth for the RedStorm at 174 pounds, while junior Mackandle Freeman (Point Pleasant, WV) took sixth place in the 157-pound division.
     Mitchell Freeman opened his run with a pin of Wyatt Haskell (Apprentice) at 4:48 and continued with an 11-1 major decision over Levi Abbott from West Liberty State University.
     Freeman then earned a 4-2 decision over Jabril Williams of Midway University before falling 5-1 to West Liberty's Alec Cook in the championship match.
     Bartee followed up a first round bye with a 12-6 decision over Midway's Sebastian Hutchinson and a 4-1 triumph over Gabe Blissenbach of West Liberty, but then suffered a 13-6 loss at the hands of West Liberty's Toby Abbott and fell in a 17-9 major decision to Breagan Pearson of West Liberty.
     Mackandle Freeman received a first-round by before dropping the first of what would be two meetings with Seth Thomas from Salem International University, 5-3.
     After a consolation round bye, Freeman posted consecutive wins over Kaleb Clark from Midway University (3-1) and Caleb Everhart of host Fairmont State (4-0) before falling 2-1 to West Liberty's Jayden Jett and 8-1 to Thomas in the fifth-place bout.
     Six others representing the RedStorm participated in the event.
     Freshman Conner Blessing (Point Pleasant, WV) started off with a 2-1 decision over Salem International's Riley Curran at 141 pounds, but fell victim to an injury forfeit in each of his next two matches.
     After getting a first-round bye at 149 pounds, freshman Ben Sloan (Ironton, OH) won his first on-mat match with a pin of Luke Boram from Fairmont State at 0:53, but then lost by fall to David Norris (Apprentice) at the 2:27 mark and dropped a 17-0 technical fall decision to Amari Williams (Apprentice).
     Also at 157 pounds, freshman Zack Lopez (Columbus, OH) dropped a narrow 15-12 decision to Everhart before posting a 15-5 major decision over Thomas More's Bryan Faucett in the consolation bracket.
     Lopez was ousted with a 10-6 loss to Thomas.
     Sophomore Pate Eastin (Granger, IN) followed up a first-round bye at 174 pounds by pinning Justus Stewart - who was wrestling Unattached - at 2:08. He then lost a 12-3 major decision to Pearson before dropping an injury forfeit to Zavier Campsey, who was also wrestling Unattached.
     Freshman Gary Reno (Hillsboro, OH) sandwiched a pin of WVU-Tech's Alex Tempus at 3:33 around technical fall losses to a pair of Unattached foes - Christian Chavez (19-4) and Nick Copley (15-0) at 184 pounds, while senior Mike Peneski (Fort Washington, NY) lost by fall to Glenville State University's Colby Whitehill and dropped a 5-3 decision to Fairmont State's Tyler Carson at 285 pounds.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Friday at the Cumberland University Duals in Lebanon, Tenn.