University Heights, Ohio – A total of 13 athletes from the West Liberty University wrestling program were in action today at the John Carroll Open, where the Hilltoppers notched a pair of titles inside the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. Winning the two titles for WLU were Landon Hoffman and Oliver Byerly, bringing the team's season total to 12 individual titles in open tournaments. Anthony Gencarelli and graduate assistant coach Collin Wickramaratna also reached the first place match in their respective weight classes.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Competing in the JCU Open 133 Blue bracket, Landon Hoffman wrestled his way to a 3-0 mark on the day and a title at the John Carroll Open. He opened the day with a 9-6 win in sudden victory-1 over Elijah Rowdy, who competed unattached for Notre Dame, prior to a pair of bonus point wins to end the day. In the semifinals he notched a first period win by fall (1:52) over Michael Valerino of Case Western Reserve and then went on to win the first place match by a 12-1 major decision against Ty Daugherty of John Carroll.
• Luke Justice wrestled to a 5-1 mark in the JCU Open 197 Blue bracket, recording a third place finish at the John Carroll Open. He opened his day with a 9-0 win by major decision over Kyle Combs who was unattached with Ohio, prior to falling in the quarterfinals in a 5-1 decision to Stephen Andryc of Case Western Reserve. On the backside of the bracket, he ended the day with four consecutive bonus point wins, including three wins by fall. He notched pins against Zak Taylor of Mount Union (4:39) and Evan Daniels of Baldwin Wallace (2:31), and then used a 14-1 major decision win over Johnny Spinner of John Carroll to reach the placement match. In the third place bout he pinned Jake Sowders of Toledo in 3:57.
• Anthony Gencarelli started his day with back-to-back wins by fall in the JCU Open 197 Blue bracket en route to a 3-1 record and second place finish at the John Carroll Open. He used pins against Brayden McFetridge of Mount Union (2:25) and Anthony Janowski of Akron (3:37) to reach the semifinals. He reached the title bout with a 14-1 win by major decision over Stephen Andryc of Case Western Reserve but fell in the first place match to Shane Davidson who wrestled unattached for Gannon in a 5-4 decision.
• Wrestling unattached for West Liberty in the JCU Open 174 Blue bracket, Oliver Byerly went 4-0 on the day for a title at the John Carroll Open. He opened the day with back-to-back first period wins by fall over Collin Perez (1:47) who was unattached and Carson Steinmetz (2:42) of Tiffin en route to the semifinals. He punched his ticket to the first place match with a 15-3 win by major decision over Brandon Burkhart of Baldwin Wallace. In the title bout he scored a 7-3 win by decision against Remington Bauer of Baldwin Wallace.
• Collin Wickramaratna, who was a 2-time NCAA Division II national qualifier at Kutztown prior to making the move to coaching in a graduate assistant role with the Hilltoppers, wrestled unattached in the JCU Open 149 Gold bracket and went 3-0 on the day. After advancing to the quarterfinals due to a forfeit, he won a pair of decisions to reach the title bout, defeating Amonn Ohl who was unattached for Edinboro (8-3) and Ethan Mitchell who was unattached for Cleveland State (4-2). He medical forfeited the first place match to Evan Herriman who was unattached with Michigan State and received second place at the John Carroll Open.

POST MEET INTERVIEW (LANDON HOFFMAN, OLIVER BYERLY, AND COLLIN WICKRAMARATNA)

 
UP NEXT
No. 3 West Liberty will next be in action on Thursday, February 15, when they host Fairmont State on senior night. The Hilltoppers and Falcons are set for a 6:30 p.m. start time inside the ASRC.