Junior Owen Reinsel secured an eighth-place finish at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, leading a group of eight Lehigh University men’s wrestlers at the event held in Evanston, Illinois. The tournament concluded Tuesday at Ryan Fieldhouse.
Reinsel advanced to Monday night’s quarterfinals after winning his first two matches, including a technical fall against Jimmy Nugent from Central Michigan. He was then defeated 4-2 by Ethen Miller of Virginia Tech and moved into the consolation bracket. On Tuesday morning, Reinsel clinched his podium spot with a 5-4 victory over Sam Cartella of Northwestern, highlighted by a reversal and a two-point near fall in the second period. After losing in the consolation quarterfinals, he finished eighth following a 5-2 defeat to Maddox Shaw of Ohio State.
The Lehigh contingent also included sophomore Matty Lopes (133 pounds), first-year Anthony Evanitsky (149), sophomore Matt Repos (149), first-year Brady Collins (174), sophomore Richie Grungo (174), and deferred first-years Dom Federici and Bekhruz Sadriddinov, both competing at 174 pounds. Lopes and Evanitsky participated unattached.
Lopes, Federici, and Grungo joined Reinsel in reaching the quarterfinals on Monday night but were eliminated after losses in their respective matches.
In his quarterfinal match, Lopes faced unattached wrestler Reineri Ortega—a two-time age group World Champion for Cuba—and lost by major decision, 13-4. Lopes was later defeated 11-4 by Markel Baker of Northern Illinois in his bloodround match.
Federici posted decisions over Graham Gambrall (Oregon State) and Eddie Enright (Northwestern) before dropping his next two bouts by four points and then two points respectively.
Grungo narrowly beat Bode Marlow from Pittsburgh 11-9 in the opening round before advancing via medical forfeit. He lost subsequent matches to competitors from Indiana and Cal Poly.
Evanitsky, Repos, and Collins each recorded one win and two losses during the tournament; Sadriddinov was defeated in both of his matches.
Lehigh’s next competition is scheduled for Saturday, January 10th when they host Cornell at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall with a match set for 1 p.m. Tickets are available through LehighTickets.com.
The wrestling season for Lehigh is presented by Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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