FINDLAY, Ohio
The Lake Erie College Storm wrestling program ended the first day of the Great Midwest Championship Duals with two victories.
The Storm earned their first win over Kentucky Wesleyan College with a final team score of 37-12 with one win by decision, one win by fall, back-to-back wins by technical falls, and three wins by forfeit.
Jacob Johnson set the tone for the day with the team's first win, a 6-0 win by decision, wrestling at 125.
At 141, Andrew Lieb earned the only win by fall of the dual against Kentucky Wesleyan.
John Siemasz, wrestling at 149, earned the first of two wins by technical falls with a 15-0 victory. At 157, Jacob Potok followed with a 16-0 win by technical fall of his own.
James Penfold (165) won by injury default followed Brylan Clouse (184) and Chris Droege (197) winning by forfeit to cap the Storm's seven individual wins against Kentucky Wesleyan.
Lake Erie wrestling had a quick turnaround, with a dual against Alderson Broaddus directly after they won against Kentucky Wesleyan. The Battlers wrestling program received seven votes to appear in the NCAA DII NWCA Coaches Poll and has one wrestler nationally ranked in the program.
The Storm ended the first day of the tournament with a victory over the Battlers with a final score of 40-18. Storm wins in the second dual of the day included one major decision, five wins by fall, and two wins by forfeit.
Jacob Johnson earned his second individual win of the tournament with an 8-0 major decision at 125.
Blake Glogouski, ranked no. 15 overall at 133, earned the first fall of the dual against Alderson Broaddus.
At 141, Andrew Lieb went 2-0 on the day with a win by forfeit.
Storm wrestlers then earned three straight wins by fall against AB. Jaycob Sharp earned the second fall of the dual against the Battlers at 149, followed by Jacob Potok at 157 and James Penfold at 165. Both Potok and Penfold went 2-0 on the day in their individual matches.
The final Storm win of the day was secured at 174, with John Penfold winning by forfeit.
"Today was a solid day.", said head coach Jeff Breese. "We were able to get some guys that do not ordinarily get to start into the lineup. We also did some unconventional things with who we wrestled and did not wrestle on day one.
This event is a team event but also can have major implications for our individual NCAA Regional seeding as well. We are trying to attack this weekend from two fronts: the team conference perspective, and keeping in mind the importance of individual matchups.
We have two huge duals tomorrow with Findlay and Tiffin. Both of those teams are always very tough to beat."
Storm wrestling is back in action tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. starting with their third dual of the tournament against Ohio Valley.
At noon, the Storm takes on the host institution, the University of Findlay Oilers. The Oilers have a pair of wrestlers nationally ranked in Brandon Proudlock at 141 (no. 15) and Nick Vandermeer at 174 (no. 7).
The Storm wraps up the tournament with a matchup against no. 8 ranked Tiffin University Dragons. The Dragons are the favorite to win at the G-MAC Duals and have four wrestlers featured in national rankings in the 149 (Chris Donathon), 157 (Trey Grine), 174 (Hayden Bronne), and 197 (Nicholas Mason) weight classes. The dual against Tiffin is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
#RageOn
