ASHLAND, Ohio -- The Lake Erie College Storm wrestling program competed in the 2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship, January 21st at Ashland University. The Storm would fight hard but finished the day with a fourth place team finish with two individual champion titles.

#3 Christian Small (141) and Austin Fietz (149) would take home the individual championships for the Storm after both earned a first round bye and took care of their next opponents en route to victory.

In his first matchup, Small would face teammate Nate Deboe and defeat him by fall (2:37). After advancing to the championship round, he would pull off a gritty 1-0 win against Tiffin's Chris Donathan. Deboe would end up placing third, giving the Storm two podium finishes in the 141-pound division.

Fietz would start out his day by taking down Findlay's Mason Kleinberg by decision 6-2. In the championship bout, he would win defeat Tiffin's Matthew Zuckerman, 4-3 to claim the 149-pound division championship.

In addition to Deboe, four more Storm athletes would claim podium spots with Ryan Wehner (133) and Jordan Barnett (184) placing second in their weight class while Blake Sheppard (125) and Brenden Hamilton (133) would finish third.

All-Conference teams were also announced after the competitions. Small and Fietz would earn First-Team honors, Wehner and Barnett would earn second team honors and 
In the final team standings, the Storm would finish with 63.5 total points. Findlay (82.5), Ashland (76.5), and Tiffin (72.5) would take the top three spots and Kentucky Wesleyan would finish last with 19.0 points.

The Storm now start the home stretch of their season and return to action on February 4th at home in a dual meet against Davenport University at 5 PM. Sheppard, Hamilton and Deboe would earn third team honors