Marquette wrestling tops Wilmington at Bader

OTTAWA — The Marquette boys wrestling team captured the lead midway through Tuesday night’s dual against Wilmington and eventually recorded a 46-29 triumph at Bader Gym for a first home victory of the season.

“It was great to see good things happen for a lot of our guys tonight because they all continue to put in so much work,” Marquette coach Trenton Lyons said. “I felt like our techniques were really solid tonight. I think as a group we are starting to see what kind of, not only individual wrestlers, but what kind of team we can be.

“I feel like we are really starting to reach our peak right now and hopefully we can carry the momentum we have into the postseason.”

Marquette held a 16-5 advantage after Beau Thompson earned a 10-2 victory over Travis VanDuyne at 132 pounds.

The Wildcats then used a pinfall by Aiden Morenberg at 138 and a forfeit to pull ahead 17-16.

From there, The Crusaders Brysen Manly earned a pinfall in the first minute of his match at 150 to give Marquette the lead for good.

Reily Leifheit then followed with an early first-period pin at 165 which made it 34-17 and Landyn McEmery followed with a pinfall at 175 to make it 40-17.

“Being honest, I really don’t ever have a specific game plan going into any match,” Leifheit said. “I’m a chain wrestler, which means I’m looking for moves based on the situation I’m in. I know what moves will be affective coming off another move, so I’m always thinking. I always have a Plan A and Plan B running through my mind during the match.

“Tonight, I was able to take a shot early and was able to turn him over pretty quickly.”

At 215, Wilmington’s Logan VanDuyne was in control of his match from the start and eventually secured a pin just before the second period buzzer sounded.

“My goal is always to make my opponent wrestle my style not theirs,” VanDuyne said. “I want to take my shots when they are there, and I did both of those things tonight.

“I moved up a weight class and he was a little quicker than I thought he’d be. He also came out firing right from the start and I came out a little flat. The key was not to get under him, stay on the outside and to stay away from his power. I was finally able to turn him right before the buzzer.”

Wilmington coach Nick Dziuban said he was proud of the way his squad battled throughout the dual.

“We had a few matches where because of our youth and inexperience we were a little outmatched, but those are the ones where we want to see our kids battle and I saw that tonight, Dziuban said. ”Our last meet was a little tough as far as us showing toughness, but tonight I thought every guys went out and stepped up in that regard. I feel like we made Marquette work for everything they got. We battled and I was pleased with how we wrestled overall.

Marquette is scheduled back in action on Wednesday with a triangular against host Yorkville Christian and Morris. Wilmington returns to the mats on Thursday hosting Illinois Central Eight Conference duals against Coal City and Streator.