Men's Wrestling | 2/1/2020 8:02:00 PM

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 16-ranked West Liberty University wrestling team edged out No. 5 Notre Dame for runner-up honors here Saturday as the inaugural Mountain East Conference championships concluded their one-day run at the ASRC.
    Coach Danny Irwin's Hilltoppers racked up 107 points to hold off a late charge by the Falcons for second place in the final team standings but MEC affiliate member North Carolina-Pembroke amassed 115.5 points over the course of the day to walk away with the team title.
    Davis & Elkins was a distant fourth with 69 points while Urbana had 63 points for a fifth-place finish and Fairmont State rounded out the leaderboard with 52 team points.
    Depth was the key for the Black and Gold as Notre Dame and the victorious Braves each crowned five individual champions. West Liberty didn't have an individual champion - the four Hilltoppers who made it to the finals all came up short against higher-seeded foes - but the hosts placed in all 10 weight classes and nine WLU wrestlers earned All-MEC recognition.
    Nevertheless, despite falling just a few points shy of the top spot, Irwin said his primary emotion in the aftermath of the tournament was much closer to dejection than elation.
    "In all honesty," Irwin said, "that's probably the first truly disappointing weekend we've had all year. I know people will look at the team score and say that was a good day but I feel like we had a great opportunity and just gave it away. We came in here with 10 guys we felt were capable of competing and challenging at a high level and failed to fully embrace the challenge."
    As noted, four West Liberty wrestlers made it to the championship match at their respective weights but had to settle for runner-up laurels in a tournament that saw No. 1 seeds prevail in all 10 weight classes.
    The individual weight class champions were recognized as first-team All-MEC honorees with the loser of the championship matches earning second-team All-MEC laurels. The third-place finishers in each class were honorable mention All-MEC. Notre Dame 133-pounder Hunter Bray was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler.
    Hilltopper junior Corey Secrist dropped a 12-4 major decision to nationally-ranked Nick Daggett of UNC-Pembroke at 125 pounds in the first championship match of the evening.
    West Liberty freshman Jamie Ward battled top-seeded Tyler Makosy of UNC-P on virtually even terms for much of the match only to see the North Carolina wrestler break a 3-3 tie with a takedown in the waning seconds and hold on for a 6-3 win.
    Sophomore Chase Morgan fought his way to the 165-pound finals but never got anything going against UNC-Pembroke's Kaleb Warner, who claimed the title with a 12-2 major decision.
    Chance Morgan followed his twin brother onto the mat for the 174-pound championship match and came within a whisker of walking off with a title. North Carolina-Pembroke's Garrett Hill barely held on for a 4-3 decision in a match that wasn't decided until the final buzzer.
    Five more Hilltoppers rebounded from early losses in the championship bracket to earn All-MEC honorable mention with third-place finishes.
    Jacob Simpson pitched a 6-0 shutout against Fairmont State's Devan Hamrick in the third-place match at 141 pounds while Blake Miller edged UNC-P's Sammy Peticos, 6-4, in a sudden-victory overtime decision at 157.
    Freshman Zane Lanham shook off a slow start to pin Davis & Elkins' Kyle Wojtasek at 6:27 of their 184-pound third-place match while Ronnie D'Amico made short work of Fairmont's John Halajian, stacking the Falcon 197-pounder just 39 seconds into their third-place bout. Chase Logan rounded out the Hilltoppers' third-place finishers with an 8-0 shutout of Fairmont State's T.J. Boyd at 285.
    Sophomore Tommy Curtin lost in the championship semifinals but battled back to earn a fourth-place finish, dropping an 8-3 decision to UNC-Pembroke's Logan Seliga in the third-place match at 133 pounds.
    While Irwin was clearly far from happy with his squad's runner-up finish, he was quick to point out that there were lessons to be learned from Saturday's performance and time to implement the corrections.
    "The bottom line is, no one is satisfied with second place - individually or as a team - but this is not the end of the road," Irwin said. "We have four weeks to get back in the room, keep improving and get to where we want to be when we compete in the regional."
    The Hilltoppers will be back on action on Feb. 8 when they compete in the John Summa Memorial Tournament hosted by Baldwin Wallace University.
       1. UNC-Pembroke 115.5; 2. WEST LIBERTY 107; 3. Notre Dame (Ohio) 106; 4. Davis & Elkins 69; 5. Urbana 63; 6. Fairmont State 52      125: Nick Daggett (UNCP) md. Corey Secrist (WLU), 12-4
     149: Tyler Makosy (UNCP) d. Jamie Ward (WLU), 6-3
     165: Kaleb Warner (UNCP) md. Chase Morgan (WLU), 12-2
     174: Garrett Hill (UNCP d. Chance Morgan (WLU), 4-3      133: Logan Seliga (UNCP) d. Tommy Curtin (WLU), 8-3
     141: Jacob Simpson (WLU) d. Devan Hamrick (FSU), 6-0
     157: Blake Miller (WLU) d. Sammy Peticos (UNCP), 6-4 (SV-1)
     184: Zane Lanham (WLU) p. Kyle Wojtasek (D&E), 6:27
     197: Ronnie D'Amico (WLU) p. John Halajian (FSU), :39
     285: Chase Logan (WLU) md. T.J. Boyd (FSU), 8-0