Team News

Liberty University men’s wrestling seniors Jeff Allen and Rick Weaver, both defending NCWA Grand National champions, won consolation championships in separate heavyweight brackets of the Lindenwood Open, highlighting the Flames’ strong showing against a number of NCAA programs on Saturday in St. Louis

Allen was pinned by Northeast Oklahoma’s eventual bracket champion Kale Schrader in his first match after an opening-round bye before recording three first-period falls in the consolation bracket — over University of the Ozarks’ Phillip Saenz Jr. in 49 seconds, Missouri Baptist’s Jacob Bader in 54 seconds, and Morton College’s Victor Vargas 1:05 into the final.

Weaver recorded five falls on his way to the consolation title, starting with his first match against Northeast Oklahoma’s Jackson Phillips in 1 minutes, 25 seconds. He dropped an 8-0 major decision to eventual bracket champion Apollo Gothard from Arkansas-Little Rock before decking Eureka’s Robert Castellano in 4:06, Triton’s Ronald Krewer in 1:37, Morton College’s Raymond Begay in 1:47, and Rochester Community College’s Reed Parrish in 25 seconds in the consolation final.

The Flames also had third-place showings from freshman Zachary Kaminski at 174 pounds and senior Charlie Hudson at 149 as well as a fifth-place finish from senior David Over at 165.

Kaminski, a former member of the U.S. Marines from Wisconsin, won his first match by 17-1 technical fall over Carl Albert State’s Matthan Mason before pinning Oklahoma City’s Dezmen Loving in 45 seconds and scoring an 8-1 decision over McKendree’s Brandon Lloyd to advance to the championship semifinals. There, he was upended by top-seeded Lucas Henderson from Indian Hills Community College, 7-2, before decking M. Davis in 5:48 and Will Ingham in 1:24 for third place.

Hudson won his first match over University of the Ozaarks’ Ethan  Norton, 7-2, before being knocked to the consolation bracket with a loss to Arkansas-Little Rock’s Jacob Adams. There, he pinned Northeast Oklahoma’s Dawson Lapping in 2:41 and Quincy’s Easton Norris in 49 seconds before scoring a 2-1 decision over McKendree’s Christian Pfeiffer-Laguar to take third.

Over pinned Northeast Oklahoma’s Christophe Worhley in 2:04 and McKendree’s Lukas Wendling in 4:11 before being sent to the consolation bracket where he pinned D. Litzsinger in 4:18 and winning his fifth-place bout by injury default.

Complete results are avialable online.

The Flames will next be in action at the Blithe Memorial Duals set for Dec. 2-3 at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Mich.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer