Wrestling | 1/10/2020 10:16:00 PM

    ASHLAND, Ohio – A pair of West Liberty wrestlers notched impressive wins here Friday night but it wasn't enough as a short-handed WLU squad dropped a 29-6 decision to Ashland in a battle of nationally-ranked squads at Kates Gymnasium.
    Forced to compete without their three nationally-ranked standouts due to injury, Coach Danny Irwin's No. 12-ranked Hilltoppers found themselves in an early hole and couldn't fight their way back against the No. 8-ranked Eagles, who had wrestlers take national rankings to the mat in four of the 10 weight classes.
    Sitting out the match due to illness was 141-pound All-American Darius Bunch, ranked No. 2 at 141 by the NWCA. Also sidelined were sophomore All-American Cole Laya, No. 9 at 125 pounds, and senior two-time national qualifier Logan Kemp, No. 3 in the nation at 197 pounds.
    "Obviously, we were competing tonight with a different 10 athletes than we have in past duals," Irwin said, "but it shows the growth we're making from top to bottom. We were putting a lot of young guys up against fourth- and fifth year seniors who have been to nationals and didn't give an inch. We didn't get off to a great start but we couldn't have wrestled any harder than we did in the last eight matches. If we could have executed better at certain positions in each match, I think the team score would have looked a lot different."
    Despite the disappointing setback, the best match of the night came at 184 pounds when fast-rising Hilltopper freshman Zane Lanham – already a 2-time MEC Wrestler of the Week – locked horns with returning All-American and No. 6-ranked Aidan Pasiuk.
    Trailing 5-2 and facing a minute-plus deficit in riding time midway through the second period, Lanham turned the tables. A quick shot takedown got the wrestlers to the mat and Lanham got a tilt for major back points to take an 8-5 lead into the final two minutes. After surrendering an early takedown in the third period, Lanham dominated the last 90 seconds and pulled away to a 12-7 win.
    "Zane just continues to build on an already impressive true freshman campaign," Irwin said. "He's starting to hit his spots more consistently and is committed to keep working on closing the holes in his game in order to reach his overall goal for the season."
    The match started with the 149-pound bout which saw Ashland's No. 4-ranked Carson Speelman get the hosts off to a flying start with a technical fall. A decision at 157 and a first-period fall at 165 pushed the Eagles' lead to 14-0 after the first three matches.
    At 174, West Liberty's Chance Morgan battled senior Bret Romanzak to a virtual standstill for 2 1/2 periods but Romanzak – the 2018 national champion at 165 pounds and the nation's No. 4-ranked 174-pounder this season – picked up a couple of late takedowns to escape with a 6-2 decision. Lanham's impressive victory against the nationally-ranked Pasiuk stopped the bleeding briefly but Ashland eked out narrow wins at 197 and 285 to push the lead out to 23-3.
    Corey Secrist put the Hilltoppers back on the board again with a 4-1 decision over Ashland's Christian Wellman at 125. Wellman, was the 125-pound champion at the Baldwin Wallace Invitational but couldn't get anything going offensively against Secrist. The Hilltopper junior scored the only takedown of the match in the opening period and made it stand up the rest of the way.
    The Eagles got back on track with a win at 133, setting the stage for the last match between Ashland's No. 9-ranked Chandler Minnard – fresh off a Midwest Classic title at 141 pounds – and WLU's Jacob Simpson. The Hilltopper freshman battled Minnard to the wire in a nail-biter that saw neither wrestler score an offensive point. Minnard opened the second period with an escape, which proved to be the only point scored in a narrow 1-0 victory.
    "Jacob Simpson and (285-pounder) Chris Cook took two of the best wrestlers in the country to the wire tonight," Irwin said. "I know they're disappointed with the result but that also fuels them as we keep pushing toward qualifying for nationals at next month's regional championships in Indianapolis."
    The road doesn't get any easier for the Black and Gold. They return to action on Jan. 17 with a trip to No. 3-ranked Notre Dame (Ohio).
  125: Corey Secrist (WLU) d. Christian Wellman (AU), 4-1
133: Lawrance Dudgeon (AU) d. Jett Pattison (WLU), 11-4
141: #9 Chandler Minnard (AU) d. Jacob Simpson (WLU), 1-0
149: #4 Carson Speelman (AU) tf. P.J. Mazik (WLU), 16-0
157: Josh Jaeckin (AU) d. Blake Miller (WLU), 9-6
165: Christian Price (AU) p. Chase Morgan (WLU), :55
174: #4 Bret Romanzak (AU) d. Chance Morgan (WLU), 6-2
184: Zane Lanham (WLU) d. #6 Aidan Pasiuk (AU), 12-7
197: Peter Abraham (AU) d. Ronnie D`Amico (WLU), 5-2
285: Tristen Weirich (AU) d. Chris Cook (WLU), 6-4