Wrestling falls to 2-6 in dual matches

As Pershing Arena emptied Wednesday night and the Truman State wrestlers shook hands with the William Penn Statesmen, senior Thomas Redmon stalked down the corridor to the Bulldogs' locker room, grunting and slamming his hand against the wall. 

Moments earlier, Truman was defeated by the Statesmen, dropping their dual match record to 2-6 for the year.

The victory brought William Penn's record to 2-5. 

The Statesmen had a 12-3 lead after the first four matches before sophomores Devon Fenstermaker and Josh Wells cut the deficit to one. William Penn answered, building the gap back up to 21-11. Redshirt freshman Helmut Rentschler then cut the lead to five by defeating the Statesmen's sophomore Nathan Merical by technical fall. That was as close as Truman would get as sophomore Kory Morrow defeated Redmon by pinfall to seal the win for the Statesmen 27-16.

  Truman found more success last Saturday as five Bulldogs placed in the Missouri Valley College Open. The Bulldogs were led by third and fourth place finishes from brothers junior Alex Maus and sophomore Ryan Maus. The other Bulldogs who placed were Fenstermaker in the 157-pound division and senior Warren Galloway and Rentschler in the 197-pound division. 

  After having the end of last weekend off because he needed stitches around his eye, Ryan got back on the mat as the No. two seed in the tournament. 

  "I felt like I was wrestling pretty well," Ryan said. "I made one stupid mistake in the semifinals and it cost me the match. I'd rather it happen now than at the end of the year you know."

 Likewise, his brother Alex had to default his third place match because of injury. 

"I thought I wrestled pretty well overall," Alex said. "A lot better than I have been lately."

Alex said the home meet can provide a good incentive for the Bulldog grapplers to wrestle to their potential.

"It's good to get a good crowd there and get us pumped up starting with the lower weight classes and moving up," Alex said. "It's a recovery week for me, but I'm looking to keep wrestling tough and get better."

The Bulldogs are staying focused on improving both their statistics and performances from last year.  Schutter said this has been Truman's focus

"We had four goals coming into the year for the program," Schutter said. "Number one was finish with an All-American. Number two was get more than one wrestler to the national tournament. Number three was to have more than three guys place at regionals. And number four was to move from second to first and win the all-academic team this year."

Schutter said ultimately the 'Dogs have a holistic view of the season.

"We don't look at wins and losses, every day or every weekend," Schutter said. "We look at it as the total year or the journey and commitment."