Berea, Oh. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford wrestling team traveled to Ohio on Saturday for the Baldwin Wallace Invitational. The Panthers had a strong outing against good competition, finishing 6th place with 71 points. Individually, four Panthers earned podium spots, led by Gavin Thompson, who finished 3rd at 285.
The Panthers' 71 points was the most they have won in an invitational in program history. Finishing in 6th place of 13 teams also set a new program mark for their best team finish in an invitational.
Gavin Thompson continued the strong start to his career, posting a 4-1 record on the day while gathering 18.5 points to take 3rd place at 285. Thompson quickly advanced to the semifinal in his class, pinning his first two opponents. His first match ended with a pin after 1:11, and the second fall came at 4:52. Thompson hit a road bump in the semifinals, falling to the wrestler ranked 6th in the country by a 19-1 tech fall. He was able to respond to the loss, winning the consolation semi-final by a 12-3 major decision. He closed his day with a tight 10-9 win to capture 3rd place.
Darren Christian Jr. had his best performance for the Panthers in his second year with the program, taking 4th place at 157. Christian started his day with a 10-2 major decision victory before falling into the consolation bracket with a tough 5-4 loss in the quarterfinal. In the consolation bracket, Christian picked up three straight wins to earn a spot in the 3rd place match. He pinned his first opponent in 4:18 and then advanced with a win by decision and a forfeit in the consolation semifinal. He was not able to come up with a final win in the 3rd place match, as he was pinned n 4:45 to end his day.
Nikolas Fegert earned his first career podium finish at 149 after winning 5 matches on the day. He started his day with a 4-1 decision victory, before falling by a major decision in the 2nd round to move to the consolation bracket. In that bracket, Fegert was dominant, picking up two victories by pin, another by major decision, and a third by medical forfeit to earn a spot in the consolation semifinal. He pinned his 3rd opponent of the day in 3:44, before defeating his teammate Raymond Worsen III with a pin in 6:45. He followed that with a dominating 14-1 win in the 4th consolation round. In the semifinal, Fegert lost by a major decision before picking up a 5th-place finish by no contest.
DJ Slovick was the final Panther to place in the invitational, as he went 3-3 on the day to finish in 8th place. He got off to a strong start, winning his first two matches easily. He pinned his opponent in his opening match in 3:27 and then advanced to the quarterfinal with a win by a 13-1 major decision. Slovick fell to the consolation bracket with an 11-8 decision loss but responded with another win by fall at 1:53 in the 4th round. He was unable to come up with another win, as he was pinned in the 5th round at 6:08 and then fell 9-3 in the 7th place matchup.
Despite not finishing on the podium, two other Panthers were able to pick up wins on the day. Uriah Morris went 2-2 on the day and picked up two wins by pin. His first pin came in 1:37 and the second was at 1:21. Raymond Worsen III also had two victories by pin. He pinned his first opponent in the consolation round in 2:28 and then tied for the quickest pin of the day in the next round, winning in just 14 seconds.
The Panthers will take a week off for the holiday, before returning to action on Saturday, December 2nd when they compete in the RIT Invitational.
