Case Western Reserve University graduate student Mitchell Arch of the Spartan wrestling team placed eighth in the 165-pound bracket at the historic Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational on Saturday at the King Arena in Wheaton, Illinois.

The eighth-place finish marked the best place by a Spartan at 165 pounds at the historic event in at least 15 years and the first top-eight finish at any weight class since Andrew Hoover finished seventh at 141 pounds in 2018.

Arch dropped both of his matches on the day, falling to Roger Deck of Mount St. Joseph by decision (10-9) in the consolation quarterfinals and losing to Elijah Hunt of Concordia Moorehead by decision (14-8) in the seventh-place match.

After going 4-1 with three pins on the first day of competition, Arch finished the two-day meet with a record of 4-3. Ranked seventh in Central Region at 165 pounds, he is 24-11 at the weight class this season with 22 pins and one technical fall. Over his career, Arch has a 101-53 record across three weight classes with 79 pins and three technical falls, tied with Aaron Yoches for 12th in program history in career wins.

CWRU finished the meet with 43.0 team points, placing 18th out of 32 teams. The University of Wisconsin La Crosse earned the most points, scoring 144.5.

The Spartan wrestling team will return to dual meet action next weekend, facing Penn State Behrend and Division II Gannon in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday, February 2 starting at 5 p.m.