Freshman Jake Strausbaugh and sophomore Greg Rhoads finished in the top-six places at the Pete Willson-Wheaton College Wrestling Invitational. Strausbaugh took third place at 141 pounds, while Rhoads finished sixth at 174 pounds.
Strausbaugh (left) advanced to the Saturday rounds after scoring a technical fall in his only Friday match. He opened the second day of competition with a 10-3 victory over Alex Dahl of Wisconsin- La Crosse, but lost to third-seeded Austin Bautista from Wisconsin-Whitewater 8-2. Strausbaugh rallied for a pin in his first match in the consolation bracket, sending fourth-seeded Thomas Pompei from Trine to the mat in 1:07. The victory put Strausbaugh against sixth-seeded Alex DeHart from Messiah in the finals, where the second-seeded Wabash freshman scored a 13-8 decision to take third place.
Rhoads (below right) dropped his first match on Saturday after going 2-0 during Friday's competition. After being pinned by Ohio Northern's Kyle Kwiat, Rhoads responded with a tight 7-6 victory in the consolation bracket over Trevor Tyler from Olivet. A pin at 3:32 over Messiah's David Jones allowed the sixth-seeded Rhoads to advance to the next round, but he lost to fourth-seeded Sam Engelland from Wisconsin-Oshkosh 9-3. A 4-3 loss to Cowan Brown from North Central in the finals gave Rhoads sixth place overall.
Senior Rob Arnett was only other Wabash wrestler to open Saturday's action in the championship bracket. He lost a 9-2 decision to second-seeded and eventually heavyweight tournament champion Mark Corsello from Elmhurst, then dropped a tough 6-5 match to James Malechek from Wisconsin-Parkside by one riding time point awarded at the end of the match.
Wabash finished 12th overall out of 30 teams at the two-day meet. The Little Giants will serve as hosts of the annual Midstates Wrestling Conference Tournament Saturday, February 6 beginning at 9 a.m. at Chadwick Court.