Fort Wayne, IN – With a perfect 2-0 record on Friday, UC men's wrestling wrapped up the NWCA National Duals with a fifth place finish. The Patriots started the day by defeating the Eagles of Embry-Riddle 30-11. To earn fifth place, UC conquered the Warriors of Indiana Tech by a score of 44-3. Cumberlands improves their record to 8-1 on the year after the duals.

The first match was in the Patriots' favor from the start as top-ranked Hayden Lee, at 125 pounds, defeated seventh-ranked Chandler Strand by fall at 1:32 to give UC a 6-0 lead. Next at 133 pounds, top-ranked Jake Sinkovics won by fall over 14th-ranked Collin Anderson by fall at 2:29, making the score 12-0. The Eagles shortened the deficit to 12-3 with a sudden victory win at 141 pounds, but top-ranked Tres Leon quickly extended the lead to 18-3 by defeating David Salazar in 55 second. Embry-Riddle notched a tech fall win at 157, moving the score to 18-8.

At 165 pounds, 15th-ranked Tristan Macri increased the Patriot lead to 21-8 by defeating 16th-ranked Tayler Owens in a 7-1 decision. Following with a 6-2 decision win, 18th-ranked Hunter Bell overcame 10th-ranked Kody Davis to increase the score to 24-8. Fourth-ranked Cameron Jones earned his own 7-5 decision win over Payton Mair for Cumberlands to go ahead 27-8. At 197 pounds, the Eagles snagged a decision win to make the score 27-11 UC. Devin Morrow, 285 pounds, defeated David Rupp in a 4-3 decision to wrap up the Patriots' 30-11 victory.

In the fifth place match, Lee began with a 17-1 tech fall win over second-ranked Sawyer Miller for a 5-0 Patriot lead. Sinkovics, 133 pounds, pinned second-ranked Erique Early in 4:02 to increase the score to 11-0, just before the Warriors won by decision at 141 pounds to make the score 11-3. At 149 pounds, Leon recorded a 16-0 tech fall over 12th-ranked Justin Atkinson to put Cumberlands up 16-3. Bobby Ehman, 157 pounds, pushed the score to 19-3 after defeating Jon Watkins in a 10-5 decision.

With the Patriots up by 16, Macri snagged an injury win over seventh-ranked Mitch Roadruck at 165 pounds to make the score 25-3. Bell, 174 pounds, followed up with a fall at 4:20 over sixth-ranked Scott Sopko, spreading the lead to 31-3. At 184 pounds, Jones tallied a 22-7 tech fall over Josue Hill, making the score UC 36-3. Extending the lead further to 41-3, sixth-ranked Eric Deluse defeated Tyler Moser at 197 pounds in an 18-0 tech fall. Sixth-ranked Quandre Chisolm, 285 pounds, wrapped up the match with a 9-2 decision win over Eric Ousley for the Patriots to earn fifth place over the Warriors by a final score of 44-3.

Full results of the duals are available online.

The Patriots will return to the mat on Saturday, January 13 in Williamsburg, KY for MSC duals against Brewton-Parker and Campbellsville. First match is set to begin at 2:00. Live video for the duals will be able here.

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