CLARION, Pa. - The Cleveland State wrestling team opened its season on Sunday, bringing home 36 individual wins at the Clarion Open and five separate top-four finishes. There were no team scores from the event and the Vikings also had three wrestlers successfully wrestle unattached.
Riley Shaw (1st, HWT), Nick Montgomery (2nd, 149), Sam Wheeler (3rd, 197), Mike Kostandaras (4th, 133) and Gabe Stark (4th, 174) all made it to at least the consolation bout of their respective weight classes.
Shaw continued his tear, going undefeated (5-0) en route to a second-straight heavyweight championship at the Clarion Open. "I knew we had some tough guys in the weight class coming in," Shaw said. "I took it one match at a time. Had three pretty close matches in a row but we stuck to the game plan," he continued, "(as a team) we had more guys place than last year, I'm really happy with how we wrestled. I saw some freshman wrestling really well and it's promising for our future."
N. Montgomery also had an impressive showing, winning four straight matches into the finals where he fell in a close match. At 4-1 on the day, two of his wins came by tech fall and major decision (19-7).
Wheeler, making his debut for CSU, finished 5-1 on the day for a third place finish. His first win came by major decision. Stark's fourth place finish saw him win five in a row at one point while Kostandaras finished 5-2 during his fourth place run.
The Vikings will be right back in action one week from today when they host John Carroll on Sunday (Nov. 8) at 4:00 p.m. The match, a dual-series dating back to 1964, will be the first between the two schools since 2013, a 32-6 CSU win.
For results/brackets from the open, click here. Continue to follow @CSUWrestling on Twitter for match updates as they go.
CSU Results:
125
Nick Derosa, 2-2
John Martin, 0-2
Evan Cheek, 4-2
133
Mike Kostandaras, 5-2 (4th)
141
Jayce Carr, 2-2
149
Nick Montgomery, 4-1 (2nd)
157
John Vaughn, 2-2
Chas Busz, 2-2
165
Nathan Wynkoop, 1-2
174
Gabe Stark, 6-2 (4th)
197
Sam Wheeler, 5-1 (3rd)
HWT
Riley Shaw, 5-0 (1st)
