A trio of Spartan Combat wrestlers took fifth place (with one loss) at the David Lehman F&M Open on Friday morning.
Brett Ungar captured five consecutive wins after an initial loss to earn his place on the podium at 125 pounds. He recorded three major decisions and topped high school rival Gary Steen of Penn State, 7-2. In his final bout, he edged North Carolina starter Spencer Moore, 3-2.
Erik Gibson made his Spartan competition debut memorable at 165 pounds. Like Ungar, he went on a run after a first round setback. Gibson got his hand raised six times in a row, highlighted by two straight falls over EIWA starters. Gibson pinned Brown’s Harrison Trahan in 39 seconds and then Navy’s Jonathan Park in just over a minute.
After making the medal stand at the Southern Scuffle at 141 pounds a few days ago, Vince Cornella began with an 18-1 technical fall. He then dropped a 3-1 match to the #7 ranked wrestler in the country, Kizhan Clarke of North Carolina, before besting his opponent from Virginia and taking a forfeit.
Fellow Southern Scuffle placer Ethan Fernandez prevailed twice at 133, with a 7-1 victory over Corey Cabanban of Iowa State and a 2-0 blanking of Michael Dolan of West Virginia.
At 149, Nate Wade dropped his opener, but followed with victories against wrestlers from Edinboro and Harvard. He then fell behind against Columbia’s Matt Ariciulo, but made a comeback late that fell just short.
Myles Griffin split four bouts at 141, beginning with an 8-6 decision over Jonathan Miranda of Navy and later pinning Preston Walls of Virginia Tech in less than a minute.
Evan Canoyer wrestled three close matches at 174 pounds, defeating Michael Doggett of Harvard, who has started for the Crimson in previous years, by a 4-1 score.
Also representing Spartan at the event was Brody Olesak at 165 pounds.
Spartan Agoge Placers - F&M Open
125: Brett Ungar, 5th
141: Vince Cornella, 5th
165: Erik Gibson, 5th
Photo courtesy of Scottie Boykin