Rio divides dual with Siena Heights, Midway

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Three University of Rio Grande wrestlers picked up a pair of wins to help the RedStorm split their two duals in Tuesday night's triangular meet with Siena Heights (Mich.) University and Midway (Ky.) University at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande defeated Siena Heights, 33-24, before dropping a tough 28-21 decision to Midway to close out the evening.
     Midway also defeated Siena Heights, 35-16, to open the night.
     "It was nice to finally get that first win at home out of the way," said Rio Grande head coach Jason Schweer. "Being such a young program and competing in the Mid-South Conference, home dual victories are going to be tough to come by. I really appreciate (Siena Heights) coach (Derrik) Marry coming down to dual us and Midway. It was great for all parties involved to get some out-of-conference competition to start 2023 before we head into our respective conference dual slates."
     Sophomore Mitchell Freeman (Point Pleasant, WV) and the freshman duo of Justin Bartee (Point Pleasant, WV) and Isaac Gray (Frankfort, OH) all won both of their matches for Rio.
     At 149 pounds, Freeman won by fall over Christopher Sorrow of Siena Heights at 1:35 before pinning Midway's Case Baughman at 1:59.
     Bartee earned a fall in the 165-pound bracket at 4:13 against Rolando Robison of Siena Heights and then rallied to edge Midway's Abe Hafez, 5-4.
     Gray, like Freeman, won both of his matches by fall, dropping Siena Heights' Brandon Rau at 4:07 and stopping Midway's Trace Insalaco at 4:26 in the 174-pound division.
     Against Siena Heights, the RedStorm quickly fell behind 18-0 after suffering a pair of falls at 125 and 133 pounds - and a subsequent forfeit at 141 - before Freeman, Bartee and Gray sandwiched their wins around a forfeit victory for freshman Weston Moyer (Urbana, OH) at 157 pounds to produce a 24-18 lead.
     Sophomore Anthony Parks (Jackson, OH) also got a forfeit win at 184, but the Saints countered with a fall at 197 to set up a deciding battle in the heavyweight bracket.
     Freshman Bruce Wagers' (Cincinnati, OH) 11-6 triumph over Jaylen Culver sealed the match win for the home team.
     In the match against Midway, the wins by Freeman, Bartee and Gray - along with a forfeit win for freshman Colin Greenwood (Bethesda, OH) to begin the dual at 125 - gave the RedStorm a 21-18 advantage entering the final three matches.
     The Eagles rallied, though, with a decision win at 184 to tie things up, a maority decision at 197 to grab the lead and a narrow victory at 285 to capture the dual.
     "Kudos to Mitchell, Isaac and Justin. Those three guys coming away with pins in the Siena Heights dual really made the difference in the outcome. Then to have big Bruce slam the door shut to lock up the win – that was huge," Schweer said. "Mitchell and Isaac both doubled-up their pin tallies against Midway and Justin earned a big conference win. Bruce was seconds away from knocking off a nationally-ranked opponent. We competed really hard and the effort was most certainly there."
     "The biggest take away from tonight was identifying those small key positions we continue to find ourselves in. They are small details, but if we continue to overlook the same small details - before too long those small things add up and become really big things. It all adds up," Schweer added. "That was my message to the guys tonight. If we want to go reach these big goals and reach that next level, it all starts with nailing down the little things. Everything counts – especially the little things."
     Rio Grande returns to action on Thursday night in a dual at Cornerstone (Mich.) University.
     Match time is set for 6 p.m.