Senior Jared Tribbett won the 149-pound weight class at Saturday's Manchester Spartan Mat Classic wrestling tournament. He grabbed one of nine top-eight finishes for the Little Giants in the tournament.
Tribbett entered the event as the top seed at 149 pounds, and showed why throughout the competition. He opened with a pin against Justin Wights from Trine, then posted a 12-3 major decision against teammate Seth Flater in the semifinals. Tribbett defeated second-seeded Dave Lopez from the University of Indianapolis 6-3 in the finals to earn the title.
Flater ended up in fifth place with a record 3-2 for the day. He started with an 8-7 win, followed by a pin at the 1:29 mark of his second match before losing to Tribbett in the third match. Moving to the consolation bracket, he lost to third-seeded Sam Delpra from Heidelbert by pin. In the finals, Flater pinned Josh Patterson from Trine 4:53 into their match to take home fifth.
Freshman Greg Rhoads took second place at 174 pounds. Rhoads won his opening matches — a 9-3 victory against Max Begovich from Trine and a 6-2 win versus third-seeded teammate Bryan Hugo — before losing 10-1 to top-seeded Nick Kraus from Trine in the finals. Hugo picked up a pin at 4:55 in his first match against Stefan Gatt from Heidelberg, followed by a 16-1 technical fall against Andrew Winemiller. After losing to Rhoads in the championship semifinals, Hugo lost a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to drop to the fifth-place match against Jake Allen. Hugo faced another tough battle, this time coming out on top in the 2-0 decision.
Michael Burke added another second place finish to the Little Giants' haul, posting a 2-1 record at 197 pounds. Burke scored a technical fall against Tyler Lathon with a 17-1 decision in the first match of the day. He received a forfeit by disqualification in the next round to set up a match against top-seeded Alex Fleet from Trine in the finals. Fleet came away with a 12-5 victory to give Burke second overall.
Brock Sempsrott and Stephen Iles both earned top-eight places at 125 pounds. Sempsrott took third place, starting with an 8-0 win against Mount St. Joseph's Dustin Carter. The freshman lost to number-one seed Brandon Harvey in semifinals, but rallied for a 7-3 decision against Bryan Lenig in the consolation semis. Sempsrott saved his best for last, scoring a pin at the 5:58 mark of his finals win against Josh Allen from Indianapolis.
Iles lost his first match before picking up a 5-3 win against Carter in round two. A 9-3 loss to Allen put Iles in the seventh-place match of the finals. His opponent was unable to compete in the finals, scoring a medical forfeit for the Wabash senior and a seventh place award.
Robert Beeler and Stephen Mosier took sixth and eighth places, respectively, at 165 pounds. Beeler lost his first match to top-seeded Tyler Goble from Rose-Hulman before winning his next three in row (9-1, 12-5, and 3-2). A loss to fourth-seeded AJ Coleman dropped Beeler to the fifth-place match where he lost 2-0 to number-two seeded Jake Blackwell from Indianapolis.
Mosier lost to third seed Kyle Long in his first match before scoring a 10-5 win and a pin at 2:35 in his next two bouts. A 7-4 loss placed him in the seventh place, battling Long for the second time in the tournament. Long picked up an 11-2 victory to put Mosier at eighth.
Wabash finished fourth in the final team scoring with 79 points. Trine won with 158 points, followed by Indianapolis (137), and Heidelberg (135). The Little Giants will serve as hosts for the annual Monon Bell Wrestling Duals this Saturday at Chadwick Court.