ALMA, Mich. – The Alma College men's wrestling team hosted the annual Alma Open on Sunday, January 19th, inside Art Smith Arena. The Scots had three wrestlers place inside the top five in their respective weight classes for the event.
Starting off in the 125 division, Tyler Demory opened the tournament off with a win by tech fall over Matthew Chiles of Henry Ford College (20-4). Demory would then record his first defeat of the day in his next match in the quarterfinals before rebounding with a win by major decision over Jimmy Thommen of Muskegon Community College by a final score of 13-2. Demory would then string together a set of wins as he would win his next match by fall over Nicholas Dropiewski of Adrian College in 33 seconds, before winning the following match by decision over Max Mader of Adrian as well, this match by decision with a score of 9-3. Demory then set himself up for a third-place bout against JP Culver from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where in a close match, Demory ultimately recorded his second loss of the day and placed fourth overall in his weight class.
The next Scots wrestler to record a top five finish was Blaise Armstead. In his first match of the day, Armstead recorded a win by major decision over Roderic Yelding of The University of Olivet by a score of 15-6. Following the victory, Armstead would pick up his first loss of the day to Mason Alessio of Division I Central Michigan University, before picking up another defeat to Riley Hess of Southwest Community College. Armstead was then placed in the fifth-place match for the 174-weight class where he was awarded a victory by forfeit, finishing in fifth for the tournament.
The final Scots wrestler to place top five in their respective class was heavyweight Brody Miskimon. Brody opened up his day with a bye before facing off against Landon Saglin from UW-Oshkosh in his first match. Miskimon was able to pin Saglin in 4:42 for his first victory of the tournament. Miskimon then defeated Dylan Powell of Southwest Community College also by fall in just 58 seconds. In the semifinals match, Miskimon recorded his first loss to Simon Lato of Central Michigan while also dropping his first match in the consolation bracket to Mason Knight as well. Though Miskimon dropped two of his matches, the fifth-place match was still his last hill to climb for the day. Miskmon would end up winning his third match by fall over Scott Smith of Adrian College in 1:46 of time, placing fifth overall.
Other Scots wrestlers than saw victories at the open included Gage Vincent and Dominic Overway.
Alma will now return to MIAA Conference duals this week as they will head to Albion College on Thursday, January 23rd for a single dual. Matches are slated to begin at 7:00 PM.
