Two Wrestlers Punch Ticket to Nationals After WHAC Meet Success; Awards Announced
(Grand Rapids, MI)-- History was made for the Cleary Cougar wrestling progra Saturday, as two members of the team were able to qualify for the national tournament based on their performance at Saturday's WHAC meet in Grand Rapids.
125 lb: Ja'Marcus Smith would earn a first round bye, and defeated Indiana Tech's Tyler Hisey via a 11-8 decision in the second round. Smith would lose to top-seeded Trevor Marsman by a 15-1 major decision in the semifinals. In the consolation bracket, he lost to Jeffrey Bailey of Cornerstone in a fall in 2:09, sending him to the 5th place match against Indiana Tech's Tyler Hisey. Smith would earn his second victory over Hisey after an 8-6 decision, claiming 5th place, and punching his ticket to the national tournament site
133 lb: Jake Lynn would lost his opening match to Marian's Landon Bertsch by a 16-1 technical fall. Lynn's second match of the day was against Isaac Green of Lourdes, where Lynn would lose after an 10-8 decision
149 lb: Ryan Weaver would advance to the second round after receiving a bye, where he met Rochester Christian's Adam Polk in the second round. Weaver would lose by a fall in 4:02. In his consolation match, Weaver was paired with Rochester Christian's Jager Kwiatkowski, who defeated Weaver by a 17-1 technical fall.
Louden Stradling would advance to the second round after a first round bye. In the second round, Stradling won his match over Marian's Zach Wilson by an 18-3 technical fall. Stradling then won his semifinal match over Indiana Tech's Mike Loney by a 4-2 decision victory to advance to the championship match. In the championship match, Stradling defeated Marian's Marlin Williams 7-6, claiming the first individual conference championship in Cleary wrestling history, and punched his ticket to the national tournament site.
165 lb: Wyatt Clementswould lose his first round matchup to Rochester Christian's Jailen Tatum in a 6:17 fall. In the consolation bracket, Clements would advance after winning by a fall over Siena Heights' Zerrick Thomas in 6:42. In his next match, Clements lost to Cornerstone's Cooper Mansfield by an 18-2 technical fall.
184 lb: Lenton Patrick suffered a defeat to Cornerstone's Brady Heckathorn after a 1:43 fall. Patrick would have to withdraw from the tournament due to injury, and was not able to compete in the consolation rounds.
285 lb/Heavyweight: Tunde Oroye would lose his first match to Lourdes' Ty Cobb after a fall in 1:18. Oroye would win his first consolation round match over Marian's Kaleb Abad by an 11-3 major decision. In Oroye's next match, he went up against another Marian Knight, and lost to Michael Yerian 4-1 in sudden victory.
Also wrestling in 285 was Eathan Westfall. Westfall lost his first match to Siena Heights' Aidan Mozden in a 5:35 fall. In the consolation round, Westfall would fall to Braydon Erb of Indiana Tech in 2:27.
As a team, Cleary earned 41 team points, and finished in 7th place overall.
Also named at the meet were Cleary's member of the Champion of Character team and All-Academic recipients.
Eathan Westfall was named as Cleary's representative to the Champion of Character team, for best representing the five core values of the NAIA. Also named to the team was head coach Matt Santos, who was selected by the other WHAC coaches as the coach that best represents the NAIA's five core values.
Also recognized were student-athletes who were named to the All-Academic Team. To be honored, student-athletes must have had at least a 3.25 cumulative GPA and have attended Cleary for at least one full year. They were (in alphabetical order):
All-Time Cleary First-Team, Second-Team, Newcomer Award Recipients:
Matt Santos - Champion of Character Coach (2024)
Louden Stradling - First-Team All-Conference - 149 lb (2024)
