ALMA, Mich. – The Alma College men's wrestling team hosted the Alma Open for the first time since 2019 with colleges from all over Michigan and Indiana. The event had a large turnout and provided positive results for the Scots on the mats. Alma had six wrestlers place in the top six of their respective divisions.
In the 133 weight division, the Scots had three wrestlers place in the top six. Dakota Quinlan placed second, Dominic Megdanoff placed fourth, and Nicholas Dawson placed sixth.
Quinlan fell to Thomas Miller in the finals match by fall to place second, but won over Emilo Cabrera by major decision to set him up in the finals match. Megdanoff dropped his first match against Miller, which set him up against Dawson where he won by technical fall to set him up in the third place bout. Megdanoff was defeated by technical fall to Anthony Walker which placed him fourth in the division. Dawson placed sixth by falling in his fifth place match to Emilo Cabrera by fall.
Calvin Huggler placed fifth in the 165 division thanks to his 4-2 record on the mats for the day. Huggler started off with a first-round loss to put him into the consolation bracket, but he battled his way back to a top six finish. In his second match, Huggler won by decision over Micah Poletti to set him up against Dillon Coulter. Huggler faced off against Coulter and was victorious by fall in 4:38. Higgler was then paired up against the eventual third place winner Carlos Monroy Santos where he was defeated but ended the day on a win over Jailen Tatum to finish in fifth.
Eddie Williams and Will Vernier both placed fourth and sixth respectively, in the 174 weight. Willams started his day with a win by decision over Gerrit Andrus before dropping a nailbiter to Martin Larkin, where he loss by decision (7-4). Williams then was faced with wrestling teammate Vernier in a match that Willams was named the winner to secure him fourth place for the day. Vernier started his day with a win over John Browning by decision but was taken down in the following round to Lucas Daly setting him up in the consolation bracket. Vernier won his next two bout's by fall and major decision before he faced Williams. Vernier was then clipped by Daly in a rematch bout for fifth place, ultimately placing him sixth for the tournament.
Several other Scots earned victories on the day which included: Brenden Kurtze (2), Colin Fluharty (1), Joseph Maier (1), Brody Miskimon (1), and Matthew Johnson (1).
The wrestling team will look to build upon their recent success and keep the ball rolling when they travel to Wheaton College to take part in the Pete Willson Invitational in Illinois. The match times are still to be determined.
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Story Credit: Eli Pinter, Sports Information Intern
