The Lakeland College wrestling team began the 2009 by going 1-3 on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Lakeland Duals.
Freshman Ryan Renon wrestled at 157 and finished the day undefeated with a 4-0 record. Renon’s freshman teammate Cory Hildebrandt lost one match to Concordia Morehead at 125 and finished 3-1.
“Ryan Renon went 4-0, which is outstanding for anyone to do, let alone a freshman. He had a great day for anyone wrestling against that type of competition,” Lakeland wrestling coach Pete Rogers said. “Cory went 3-1 at 125, which is impressive as a freshman. Believe it or not, he was actually outsized in some of his matches at 125 and still was able to do very well.”
Senior Jake Frias also went 3-1 for Lakeland, losing only match to Concordia Morehead’s Lane Lunde at 165.
“Jake had a great day; his only loss came to Concordia Morehead and that was a tight match as well. As the season goes on Jake will improve and that’s a match I expect him to get back when we play them again this year,” Rogers said.
Frias scored a 17-4 victory in Lakeland’s final match of the day versus Wabash to put the Muskies ahead 16-10 overall. The Little Giants heavyweights pinned Lakeland’s Rob Forgette and Brad LeClair at 197 and HWT, respectively, to close out the Muskies. Forgette and Leclaire were forced to move up in weight class on Saturday as senior All-American returnee Adam Sutter was injured at heavyweight.
Rogers said his team performed well despite the absence of Sutter. Junior mainstay Isaac Roberson and sophomores Jake Montie and Robbie Frias were all unable to compete due to injury.
“Considering the amount of injuries, I thought the team did very well. Everyone wrestled their hearts out and left everything they had on the mat today,” Rogers said. “I’m hoping we’ve gotten all our injuries out of the way at the beginning of the year and that we’ll be ready to wrestle at the end of the season when it counts.”
The Muskies started the day strong, getting a pin from Forgette among eight other wins on the way to a 37-9 victory over UW-Eau Claire. Lakeland then lost two matches to nationally ranked North Central 31-12 and Concordia Morehead 46-3. Rogers said his squad should have been more competitive in the loss to Morehead.
“Our one derailment of the day came against Morehead. We were a little outmatched against one of the tougher teams in the nation, but we didn’t come to wrestle, and it showed.
“We wrestled hard all day long,” Rogers said. “The guys who had the opportunity wrestled with a lot of heart. It was a good experience that will make them better in the future.”
The wrestling team faced another tough opponent on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at UW-Stevens Point.
After winning the opening match of the day, Lakeland was unable to win another match on the way to a 40-3 loss to the No. 17 team in the nation.
Hildebrandt continued his hot start to the season, getting a 5-3 decision against Point’s 125-pounder. Hildebrandt has won 4 out of his 5 matches.
Renon, 4-0 before Tuesday, lost his first match of the season 3-2.
David May was pinned at 184 in 1:47 by No. 4 ranked Ben Engelland.
Lakeland’s next match is this Saturday, Nov. 14 in Galesburg, Ill at the Knox Invite.