Joe Seger (SR/Jasper, IN/Jasper) finished second at 174 pounds, as did 197-pounder Keith Garrard (JR/New Castle, IN/New Castle Chrysler). Eric Slabaugh (JR/Tucson, AZ/Flowing Wells) was third at 125 pounds, while Garrett Pino (JR/Indianapolis, IN/Lawrence North) took third at 133. Steve Kasten (JR/Winamac, IN/Winamac) added a fourth place finish at heavyweight.
Seger was seeded fourth by the committee. He started with a pin against the fifth seed, Michael Coughlin from Southern Indiana at 4:19. Seger followed that performance with a 7-5 victory over the top-seeded wrestler in the weight class, Jordan Powers from Cumberland, before being pinned in the championship match by Luke Borneman from Cumberland.
Garrard won 11-1 in his first match, then pinned Justin Barber in the second round at 4:00. Garrard followed with another pin the semifinals, sticking Torrie Ruffin at 5:28. The top two seeds met in the finals, with number one seeded Bobby Poweski from Mount St. Joseph taking a 9-7 decision over Garrard, the two-seed.
Slabaugh, unseeded entering the tournament, opened with a 5-1 win over sixth-seeded Eric Rogers from Cumberland, followed by a 3-1 victory against Millikin’s Tim Haneberg. Haneberg advanced after upsetting the third-seeded wrestler in the bracket. Slabaugh lost a 5-2 decision to second-seed Eracleo Vallejo from Manchester before winning 5-1 in the semifinals to advance to the championship round. He defeated eighth-seeded Jared Christner from Millikin 7-0 in the finals to take home third place.
Pino entered the tournament as the number two seed. He started with a pin at 5:22 against Lincoln’s Mitch Webber, then defeated seventh-seeded Dan Goodwin from Rose-Hulman 9-7. Pino lost a 10-7 decision to third-seed John Sheets from Manchester, but rallied for an 8-1 win in the semifinals over Paul Njoku. Pino claimed third place with a pin of fourth-seeded Ben Watson 3:36 into the final match.
Kasten was placed eighth in the seeding meeting. He started with a pin at 3:09 in his first match, but lost to the top seed in his third trip to the mat after a 5-2 win round two. He won 11-5 in the quarterfinals and 4-1 in the semis before losing to top-seed Brian Morgan for the second time in the tournament, this time falling in the finals.
Wabash will wrestle Elmhurst College in a dual meet Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Chadwick Court.
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