MORGANTOWN – Ahead of this weekend’s WSAZ tournament in Huntington, the University wrestling program and coach Ken Maisel welcomed Maryland wrestling powerhouse Southern Garrett on Wednesday evening for a dual.
Each school placed one wrestler from each weight class against each other, with points being earned based on the finishes of each match.
To begin the dual, UHS sophomore Brodie Emery faced off against SGHS freshman Kade Savage in the 106-pound weight class. The 8th-ranked wrestler in the state, Emery, won by pinfall.
The next three matches (113, 120, 126) all went in favor of the Hawks. With Dane Wolfe earning a forfeit at 113, freshman Carter Pauley winning on decision 6-0, and Grant Oxley winning via points, 10-6. UHS took the early lead in the dual at 18-0.
The Rams earned their first points from undefeated senior Aiden Schwab at the 132-pound class via pinfall over UHS sophomore Jay Mckenzie, bringing his team back to a score of 18-6.
The next two matches, however, would be one-sided for UHS. Senior Mason Pauley, No. 8 in the state, earned a pinfall victory over sophomore Corwin Parsons. Then undefeated sophomore Luca Felix would improve his overall record on the season to 30-0 by pinning junior Kolten Lee from SGHS.
Darian Hammer earned a hard-fought 15-5 victory over UHS freshman Noah Hagedorn to make the dual score 30-10 in favor of the Hawks. Once again, the Hawks had two straight pinfall victories with second-ranked junior Dakota Hagedorn defeating senior Jaxsen Tasker and fourth-ranked Elijah Wellings-Osha defeating junior Gavin Warnick at 170 lbs. The Hawks increased their point lead to 42-10.
At 182, two seniors would step up for their teams. Seventh-ranked senior Hezekiah Taylor for UHS and senior Hunter Sanders for SGHS with a record of 25-0. The two would find themselves tied at 4 after two periods, but Sanders overcame Taylor’s assault and earn a point on a reversal to take the match.
To finish the night, Brock Kehler defeated Zach Schoch from SGHS and UHS 285 pounder Corbin Turney pinned sophomore Payton Carr. UHS earned the win over SGHS 54-19. The Hawks improve their team record to 18-1. They will travel to Huntington this weekend for the biggest tournament of the season, the WSAZ’s.
