EAST LANSING, Mich. - A total of 16 Michigan State wrestlers picked up
top-six finishes at the MSU Open on Sunday (Nov. 15) as the Spartans
hosted the annual event at Jenison Field House. Leading the way for the
Green and White were freshman Dan Osterman, redshirt-freshman Bryant
Craft and senior Franklin Gomez, as all took home first-place medals.
"Overall, I thought the team wrestled hard and they wrestled well," said
MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "We had some outstanding individual
performances. Franklin had an outstanding tournament; Bryan Craft
stepped up to get his first tournament win as a Spartan and Danny
Osterman, winning his second in a row, was great."
For the second consecutive weekend, Osterman claimed a title in the
133-pound freshman/sophomore division. Wrestling unattached, Osterman
pinned his opponents in the quarterfinal and semifinal bouts and then
claimed the title via injury default in the finals. Last weekend,
Oseterman won the 133-pound title at the EMU Open.
Also wrestling unattached at 133 pounds was fellow freshman Levi Stace,
who placed sixth in the freshman/sophomore division.
In the 174-pound class of the freshman/sophomore division, Craft took
home first place, defeating J.T. Jenkins of the University of
Indianapolis with a 4-2 decision.
Also placing in the freshman/sophomore division and wrestling unattached
from MSU were: Neil Hyska at 184 pounds (sixth place) and Steve Andrus
(fourth place) and Michael McClure (fifth place), each at 285 pounds.
In his first action of the season, defending national champion Gomez
cruised through the open bracket and defeated Tristen DeShazer of
Northern Illinois, 6-2, in the finals to claim first place in the
133-pound open division.
Sophomore David Cheza made his way to the finals of the 149-pound finals
in the open division, but lost a hard-fought 8-7 decision to Steve
Zimmerman of Northern Illinois. A pair of seniors - Kyle Bounds and Nick
Palmieri - picked up third-place finishes in the open divisions of the
165 and 184-pound weight classes, respectively.
Eric Olanowski at 125 pounds (third place), Ben Boudro at 165 (sixth
place), Ian Hinton at 174 (fifth place), Tyler Dickenson at 197 (sixth
place) and Alan O'Donnell at 285 (fourth place) rounded out the group of
Spartans that placed in the open division in Sunday's meet.
"I thought we wrestled really hard today, but we still have some work to
do," Minkel said.
The Spartans will return to action next Sunday (Nov. 22) at the Sprawl
and Brawl in Binghamton, N.Y.
Final Brackets
Results By Weight Class
