Three members of the Case Western Reserve University wrestling team placed in the top three of their weight classes at the Bob Del Rosa Ohio Intercollegiate Open at the Veale Center in Cleveland on Sunday.
In the open 133-pound bracket, junior Art Martinez reached the final after winning his first three matches. After back-to-back decisions in the first two rounds, Martinez earned his second technical fall of the season with an 18-3 victory over Jacob Gardner of Seton Hill in the semifinal. In the final against Jake Manley from Division I Cleveland State, Martinez dropped a 9-2 decision to place second overall.
Junior Aidan Gassel earned the bronze in the 197-pound bracket, winning three of his four matches by pin. He started the day with a victory in 3:34 and followed with a win by fall in 4:13. Matched up against the reigning Division II national champion, Derek Blubaugh, in the semifinal, Gassel fell in under a minute. However, the Spartan wrestler rebounded with a pin in the second period over Jesse Kanatzar of John Carroll in the third-place match.
In the 133-pound open bracket, junior Jacob Gregg picked up a win by fall over Questapha Lewis in 4:08 for his first pin of the season. Junior Marty Landes added a win for CWRU by decision in the 165-pound bracket.
In addition to the open brackets, the meet featured competition exclusively for wrestlers in their first or second collegiate years.
First-year Chase Crutchley won all three of his matches at 174 pounds to claim the bracket with all his victories by major decision. Crutchley won 9-1 over Wheeling's Isaac Valdez, 8-0 over Ithaca's Chris Reddy, and 14-1 over Landon Lazarek in the final to win the first bracket of his collegiate career.
Sophomore Mathew Gummere picked up a pair of wins in the 184-pound bracket, defeating Ronald Dietz from RIT and Van Skinner from UIndy by decision. First-year Robert Minden competed at 149 pounds and won twice in four matches. He earned his first collegiate pin, defeating Emmitt Holland of Ohio Wesleyan in 6:35.
Sophomore Dillon O'Keefe won a match at 149 pounds by technical fall, the first such win of his career. Additionally, first-year Alexander Greene Barrios (133 lbs.) and sophomore Mike Valerino (141 lbs.) won matches for the Spartans.
The CWRU wrestling team will next travel to Albion, Michigan, for the Albion Open on Sunday, November 17.
Spartan Notes
- The meet was wrestled in honor of Spartan Club Hall of Famer Bob Del Rosa, who served Case Western Reserve University for 49 years. Del Rosa led the Spartan wrestling program for 46 seasons, producing four national champions, 37 national qualifiers, 18 All-Americans, and 35 Scholar All-Americans. In 1996, he was inducted into the NCAA Division III Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Wrestlers from 27 colleges, universities, high schools, and clubs competed in nearly 600 matches at the open meet
- Minden earned his first career win, a 6-3 decision over Brayden Demm of Indianapolis
- Gassel improved to 7-1 this season with three pins and two technical falls, and Martinez improved to 6-2 overall
