Freshman Greg Rhoads finished seventh and junior Michael Burke took eighth over the weekend at the 2009 Pete Willson/Wheato College Wrestling Invitational.
Rhoads finished with a 4-2 record during the two-day tournament. He started with some bad luck, paired against fourth-seeded Mike Schmitz from Wisconsin-La Crosse in the opening round of the 174-pound bracket. Rhoads stayed even with Schmitz for the entire match before eventually losing 8-7. The Wabash rookie responded with a 15-2 major decision in the first match of the consolation bracket against Tim Stewart from Messiah. A 19-2 technical fall versus Josh Nord from Concordia Lutheran put Rhoads up against eighth-seeded BJ Greenman from Case Western Reserve. Rhoads took a 9-7 sudden victory in overtime to advance to a consolation semifinal bout against fifth-seeded Luke Rynish from Wisconsin-Parkside. Rhoades lost 15-2 in the semis before rallying for a 5-3 win against seventh-seeded Frank Savegnago from Elmhurst in the finals.
Burke went 3-3 at 197 pounds. The junior began Friday's action with a 15-0 technical fall against Greg Williams from Rose-Hulman, followed by a 16-13 win against fourth-seeded Matt Harmon from John Carroll for a huge upset victory. Mount Union's Bill Schindel sent Burke to the consolation bracket with a 15-8 win over the Wabash wrestler. Burke scored his only pin of the tournament at 6:24 into his match against Alex Faulkner from Knox College before Brad Rice from Heidelberg picked up an 11-5 win in the quarterfinals. Burke moved to the seventh-place finals match, but lost 11-6 to seventh-seeded Alex Fleet to take eighth place.
Freshman Andrew Kepchar picked up three pins while narrowling missing a chance to place in the tournament at 141 pounds. He lost his opening match 11-7 to Wisconsin-Parkside's Mike Migawa, then followed with three straight pins against Jarrod Cawley from Elizabeth (1:11), Alex DeHart from Messiah (6:33), and Ben Jarso from the University of Chicago (4:59). Seventh-seeded Kory Theil from Lakeland brought an end to Kepchar's tournament by pinning the freshman at the 2:00 mark of their bout.
Jared Tribbett won his opening match at 149 pounds with a 3-2 victory before being eliminated from competition. Justin Michaels scored a pin at 3:17 in the first round of the consolation bracket at 157 pounds before his weekend came to an end with a loss in the next round.
Wabash will compete at the Midstates Wrestling League conference championship event at Olivet College on February 7.