Brackets
Finals Summary
Team Standings
Fall Report
ELMHURST, Ill. – The Harper College wrestling team placed fourth out of 11 teams at the 34th Annual Al Hanke Wrestling Invitational at Elmhurst College on Saturday.
The Hawks finished with 61 points and were only outpaced by UW – Stevens Point (156 points), Elmhurst College (127.5 points), and Olivet Nazarene University (77 points).
Harper got strong performances from Cory Pych (/South Elgin) and Ian Mullen (McHenry, Ill. /McHenry West). Pych finished runner-up at 149 pounds while Mullen was third at 125 pounds. The Hawks also got a pair of fourth place finishes from James Knapp (Bourbonnais, Ill. /Bradley-Bourbonnais) at 141 pounds and Cody Barnes (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock ) at 197. Finally, Stone Dax (Lake Villa, Ill. /Grayslake North ) placed fifth at 197 pounds.
Pych posted a 2-1 mark at 149. After a bye, he pinned Manchester University's Josh Juarez at the 4:14 mark. In the semifinals, Pych defeated Triton College's Valentino Ortiz to reach a finals showdown with UW – Stevens Point's Joe Crook. He battled with Crook into the fifth minute of the match before being pinned at the 4:42 mark.
Mullen won three of his four matches at 125 pounds to take third. He started the day with a 7-5 victory over Alan Mock of Manchester. The freshman ran into a tough opponent in Elmhurst College's Anthony Munoz, losing the match 11-4. He rebounded with a pin of Elmhurst's Mike Moore to reach the third place match. Mullen wasted no time in that match, pinning Triton's Jimmy Gallardo in just 45 seconds. Mullen's two pins tied for second-best at the invitational. Only UW – Stevens Point wrestler Joe Crook (three falls) had more.
Knapp dropped his first match of the day, a 6-4 decision, to North Central College's Matt McGowan. In the wrestlebacks, he prevailed over Olivet's Dean Roberts, 18-3. The freshman had a tough match with Manchester's Chase Wilson but was able to pin Wilson at the 6:00 mark to reach the third place match. Knapp had a rematch against McGowan, but he was pinned and settled for fourth place.
Barnes lost his first match to Olivet's Kyle Carter before winning two straight matches over Brian Clark (by fall in 4:29) and Eric Boyd (10-7 decision). In a low-scoring third place match, he lost to Elmhurst's Grant Tennihill, 2-1.
Dax won two of his four matches at 197 to claim fifth place. His wins came over University of Chicago's Ryan Walsh, 14-5, and over Olivet's Eric Boyd by pinfall. Another notable performance for Harper came from John Makey (Grayslake, Ill. /Grayslake Central ), who had two falls on the day.
The Hawks will host their first home competition of the 2015-16 season on Saturday, Jan. 23, the Illinois Underclassman State. Matches are set to begin at 12 PM.
