’Dogs dominate Hannibal 50-0

For the first time in 13 years, the men's wrestling team has recorded a dual match shutout.

The Bulldogs controlled every weight class and defeated Hannibal-LaGrange University 50-0 last Thursday in Hannibal, Mo.

"It looked like we were going to be open at three weights," head coach David Schutter said. "[Freshman] Nick Shea's been banged up. He decided to suck it up and compete. [Freshman] Ryan Maus was not feeling very well on Tuesday and Wednesday and didn't know if he was going to compete. All three of our 97-pounders, two of them have class and one of them has a busted nose. It didn't look good for us at three weights."

Truman's last shutout came Dec. 6, 1997 against William Penn University in the Iowa Duals. The Bulldogs also won that match 50-0.

Three of Truman's wins came by forfeit as sophomore Ryan Banning (125 pounds), freshman Nate Seiler (184 pounds) and junior Thomas Redmon (heavyweight) didn't wrestle during the dual match.

"It's really hard to get a shutout," Schutter said. "Every match, there's more pressure on the next guy on your team. By the time we got up to [174], you could really see the pressure building on those guys."

Senior Chad Kurovski wrestles at 174 and was the second-to-last to wrestle. Kurovski was matched up against Hannibal's freshman Dan Capps. Capps is 21-7 on the year and is only seven wins away from breaking the all-time university record.

Kurovski and Capps were locked in the closest match of the day with Kurovski earning a 6-5 decision win.

"There was definitely quite a bit of pressure," Kurovski said. "They had one of the tougher guys at my weights. Trying to hold onto that shutout, you've got to overcome that pressure. I think having some experience really helped."

Junior Jeff Graber wrestled the last match of the day at 197-pounds. Graber won the match by fall to lock up the shutout for the 'Dogs.

Freshman Devon Fenstermaker and senior Andy Bader won their respective weight classes by decisions. Shea and sophomore Colton Schmitz won their matches by fall and Maus won his dual by technical fall.

The win gave the Bulldogs their second dual win of the season. Truman went 2-12 in dual matches last season and has had less than five dual match wins in 11 of the last 12 years.

Kurovski said the team is young, but that hasn't stopped the Bulldogs from earning some early victories.

"Everybody just feels like family this year," Kurovski said. "We came back early from Christmas Break and went and saw a movie together. We just do things as a team this year. These are my brothers. It's just a whole different team."

The Bulldogs have less than one month until their MIAA Duals. Before those dual matches, Truman will wrestle five more duals, with four of those matches on the road.

Truman struggled in the MIAA Duals last season, scoring just 12 total points in three duals. Half of those points came from a forfeit win against the University of Central Missouri.

However, Banning said the team has been more motivated this season even with several early injuries.

"We've been working a lot harder this season," Banning said. "Coach has been pushing a bunch of guys a lot harder this year. We've been having morning practices and our preseason conditioning was a lot tougher. Not that we didn't work hard last year, but this year, coach is really pushing us."

The Bulldog's next dual match is 9 a.m. Saturday at Marshall, Mo., when they face off against Missouri Valley College.