Westminster wrestling takes down undermanned Gerstell Academy, 58-24
Westminster took a loaded lineup into its home match Tuesday against Gerstell and used it to its advantage to record a 58-24 victory in a nonconference dual meet.
The Owls took advantage of seven forfeits en route to the victory. In addition, Westminster also scored pins from Connor Ruane at 120 pounds and Tyler Wilson at 215 pounds to aid its cause.
“We knew they weren’t going to have a ton of guys, but the guys they had were going to be tough. We had to wrestle hard every match,” Westminster coach Garrett Vandervalk said. “It only takes seven guys to win a dual meet match, and they had seven.”
Forfeits aside, Gerstell was ready for each contested match. The Falcons got a win at 138 pounds, in which Landon Bell defeated Ethan deGalicia via fall in 1:50. Ryan Ellis pinned Daviti Guliashvili 3:30 into the 190-pound match. Rowen Myers from Gerstell also pinned Mason Warnick 3:12 into their 165-pound bout.
The most dominant performance, however, came from Ruane at 120 pounds. Ruane built up a 12-1 lead before finally getting his opponent, Weylin Myers, on his back for a third-period pin.
“He was pretty good, but I knew I could work him,” Ruane said. “I finally found a way to turn him and I took advantage and got the pin.”
The biggest surprise of the evening was when Westminster’s Tyler Wilson bumped up a weight class to 215 pounds before finding a way to pin a much larger Adam Mohmand.
He threw him at the end of the match and that really helped,” Vandervalk said. “He’s not a guy that’s usually one to bump up, and him doing that took a lot of courage.”
Wilson said he had a strategy that helped him win the match.
“He was much bigger than me, but he kept standing up,” Wilson said. “I waited and then I got a nice slap-drop on him to take him down and pin him.”
Westminster’s Braden Vacca also recorded a major decision, 15-6, over Jack Bruffy at 157 pounds.
For Gerstell, the night was a tough one but also a learning experience.
“I don’t think we wrestled well tonight,” Gerstell coach Dennis Frazier said. “We were not aggressive. We sat around and waited too much, and it showed up in the score.”
Westminster 58, Gerstell Academy 24
106 – Vile (WST) won by forfeit; 113 – Shapiro (GA) won by forfeit; 120 – Ruane (WST) p. Myers, 5:25; 126 – Bowersox (WST) won by forfeit; 132 – O’Dwyer (WST) won by forfeit; 138 – Bell (GA) p. deGalicia, 1:50; 144 – Fisher (WST) won by forfeit; 150 – Teitelbaum (WST) won by forfeit; 157 – Vacca (WST) maj dec Briffy, 15-6; 165 – Myers (GA) p Warnick, 3:12; 175 – Little (WST) won by forfeit; 190 – Ellis (GA) p Guliashvili, 3:30; 215 – Wilson (WST) p Mohmand, 2:54; 285 – Wengert (WST) won by forfeit.