Sophomore Thomas Wagner of the Case Western Reserve University wrestling team placed third in the 157-pound bracket at the JCU Open hosted by John Carroll University at the DeCarlo Varsity Center in University Heights, Ohio, on Saturday.

Wagner reached the bracket's semifinals with two consecutive victories to start the day. He defeated Ryan Forrest by technical fall, 17-2, for his fourth technical fall of the season, and bested Justin Ritchie by major decision 12-1. After dropping a 10-9 decision in the semifinal match, Wagner rebounded with a 6-1 decision over Forrest in the consolation semifinals to reach the third-place match against Ritchie. In that match, Wagner earned three points from a takedown late in the first period and started the second period with a four-point near-fall. He chose to start the third period at the bottom, earning an eighth point with an escape and then increasing his lead to 11 with a takedown. With an additional point for riding time, Wagner ended his day with a 12-0 major decision and a 4-1 record, improving his record this season to 13-8.

In addition to Wagner, two other CWRU wrestlers reached the consolation semifinal round of their brackets.

In the first two rounds of the 174-pound bracket, first-year Mathew Gummere wrestled two tight matches, winning his first in the first sudden victory period, 9-6, before falling in the quarterfinal by decision, 2-1. He responded with two consecutive wins to reach the consolation semifinals, defeating Sorensen Wynn by technical fall, 19-2, and Carson Steinmetz by major decision, 11-2. The victory over Wynn was his third technical fall of the 2023-24 campaign. Gummere fell in his consolation semifinal match to end the day with a 3-2 record.

Graduate student Stephen Andryc won his first two matches at 197 pounds to reach the bracket's semifinals. He won by fall in 3:41 over Sean McElhinny, his fourth pin of the season, and defeated Luke Justice by decision 5-1. After losing by major decision in his next match, Andryc lost by decision in the consolation semifinals to finish 2-2.

Three additional Spartans won matches by pins during the meet. Competing at 174 pounds, sophomore Thomas Bentivoglio earned a win by fall, defeating Owen Gruhn in 1:01 for his second pin of the season. In the 157-pound bracket, sophomore Justin Sweeney earned his third pin of the season in 4:23 over Gavin Kaine. Finally, sophomore John Conover picked up his third pin of the season in the 165-pound bracket by beating Evan Brickman in 4:41.

The Case Western Reserve wrestling team will turn its attention to the championship portion of the season, starting with the 2024 University Athletic Association Championship hosted by New York University at the Paulson Center in Manhattan, New York, on February 17.