The Lake Erie College wrestling program and head coach Jeff  Breese played host to their first home event of the season in the Storm Open. All 19 Storm wrestlers competed well, and 9 of those wrestlers finished in the top 5 within their weight classes. 

The best individual performance for the Storm was returning All-American Christopher Droege who won all three of his bouts on the day and placed first within the 197-pound weight class. 

While Droege was the lone Storm top place finisher, there were 3 Storm wrestlers who earned runner-up finishes within their weight classes, namely freshman Jack Haskin (149), sophomore Jordan Rodriguez (125), and senior John Penfold (174). Sean O'Hearon would also earn a 3rd place finish in the 149-pound class alongside Haskin. Additionally, Ryan Wehner (133) and Bryan Clouse (184) would both earn 4th place finishes. Lastly, Ronnie D'Amico and Jacob Johnson would round out the top 5 finishers for the Storm by earning 5th place spots in their respective divisions. 

Coach Breese's Insights on the Storm Open

"Great Day for Chris Droege. Scored a lot of points and wrestled well in all aspects. Always a bonus to have a champion at our home tournament"

"Overall, a good but tough day for us. We did a lot of things well. We had a few, hopefully, minor injuries that we wanted to be cautious with. That derailed a number of competitions for us."

The Storm will face their second dual competition of the season as the Mercyhurst Lakers will head down I-90 from Erie, Pennsylvania to the Jerome T. Osborne Center in Painesville. That contest will kick off at 6 pm on Saturday, December 11th.