By: John Alfes, Hiram SID
BEREA, Ohio - November 18, 2023 - It was another productive weekend for the Hiram men's wrestling team on Saturday at the Baldwin Wallace Invitational, with six student-athletes picking up at least one win.
Overall, the Terriers scored 46 points and placed 10th out of 13 teams. The Yellow Jackets hosted the event and took down first place.
Grayson Smith was one of three Hiram wrestlers in the 141-lb class (Will Brodbeck, Alex Savering), earning a victory by major decision over Adrian's Brady Packer (13-4). The junior would eventually lose in the later stages of the consolation bracket despite a strong day.
Savering also found success at 141 lbs, winning against Mount St. Joseph by technical fall (19-4) and against Trine by fall (1:23) to advance to the quarterfinals of the winner's bracket. Savering lost his next bout before picking up a trio of wins in the consolation bracket to place 5th in the weight class: won by major decision vs Penn State Behrend (14-5), won by decision vs Adrian (7-4) and won by medical forfeit vs Manchester.
At 149 lbs, freshman Ashton Kauf picked up a pair of wins by fall over Mount St. Joseph's Cahiel Linton (1:28) and Penn State Behrend's Michael Ruiz (1:42). Kauf scored Hiram 5.5 points, which was the fourth-most on the team. Another freshman, Jayce Dietrich (157 lbs), won by decision over Manchester (16-13) to round out the big day for the first-year athletes.
Seth Holt (165 lbs) fell short in his first bout before turning it around in the consolation bracket; the veteran won by fall against Penn State Behrend's Zane Anderson (1:17) and Manchester's Conner Watts (2:29). Holt ended the day scoring 6.0 team points.
Jimmy Thomas (184 lbs) was right behind Savering in terms of production, scoring 14.5 team points behind three wins across the winner's and consolation brackets. He won by tech fall vs Penn State Behrend, by fall vs Pitt-Bradford (2:34) and by fall vs Manchester (0:53).
The Terriers will take two weeks off before returning to the mats at the Ohio Northern Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 9 a.m.
