Dan Zalewski

Associate Sports Editor 

This Saturday, all hands were on deck for the Millersville Marauders as their wrestling team hosted their only quad meet of the season. Each wrestler had to be in the best shape possible in order to give their best efforts on the mat for each match that day.

Millersville entered Saturday’s competition coming off a difficult stretch of meets, the most recent being an unfortunate loss at Shippensburg. However, Millersville rallied back and entered Saturday’s quad meet with a clean slate and focused mind. Despite that their opponent’s were not PSAC rivals, Millersville still aimed to rally and finish the season strong.

The first of that day’s three opponents were the Battlers of Alderson Broaddus. Immediately Millersville found itself with an advantage. Austin Camacci stepped out onto the mat only to find no opponent. Millersville’s 6-0 lead would be increased to 21-0 and Millersville was in an excellent position to claim its first victory of the day.

Mancini pinned his opponent from American International. Photo courtesy MUAthletics.
Mancini pinned his opponent from American International. Photo courtesy MUAthletics.

The Battlers began to rally back, gaining team points in each of the next three weight classes. The Marauders snapped the Battlers rally in the heavyweights. The final two Marauder wrestlers, Colton Dull and David Wuestner, slammed the door and claimed victory with two back to back pins. Millersville started the day winning 33-10.

The Marauders then moved on to their next opponents, the Fighting Scots of Ohio Valley. Much like the first match, Millersville gained an immediate advantage because the Fighting Scots forfeited the first three weight classes and gave Millersville a 24-0 lead. The Scots tried to amend this deficit, coming up with a pin in the 149 weight class, but ultimately the lead was too much for the Scots to come back from. Millersville remained perfect on the day with a 30-9 victory against the Scots.

The American International Yellow Jackets were the last opponent that Millersville needed to defeat on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets entered the final round with a 1-1 record on the day. Millersville did not recent a forfeit in the first round in this matchup, but the forfeits of the previous match allowed Millersville’s first three wrestlers, Austin Camacci, Alex Baider, and Tommy Nulty, to rest up and take down their opponents quickly. After a pin and two technical falls, Millersville had a 16-0 lead to start.

Millersville continued to dominate, but in a seemingly different style. Unlike earlier in the day, where wrestlers had more energy to constantly take shots, many wrestlers tried to conserve what energy they had left. Millersville not only won, but won handedly by a score of 43-3, their largest victory of the day.

One of the standout performances on the mat was heavyweight David Wuestner. Wuestner entered the tournament as Millersville’s male Athlete of the Week. He dominated his opponents and remained perfect on the day. He crucially put the final nail in the coffin in each match to round out a great day.

The greatest wrestler in Saturday’s competitions was Colton Dull. Wrestling in the 197 weight class, Dull preceded Wuestner, and maximized every opportunity he was given on the mat. Dull ended the day with three pins and gave his team 18 team points. For his efforts on the mat, he has been named this week’s male Athlete of the Week.

The team is now 5-5 on the season and hopes to use this success to drive the team forward when they defend their home turf against the East Stroudsburg Warriors on Thursday, February 4th in Pucillo Gym.