Oct. 31, 2009
Wrestling unattached at the Lindenwood Open, three Tiger grapplers earned top-three finishes in their respective weight class with freshman Zach Toal (Sidney, Ohio) earning top honors at 165 pounds.
Toal entered the annual tournament as the No. 4 seed and notched four straight wins to advance to the title bout against Joe Barczak of IU. Toal pinned Barczak in 1:44 for his first tournament title of the campaign. Of his five wins on the day, three were by fall, the fastest coming in 1:00 against opening round opponent Conrad Polz (UI).
Colorado native Eric Wilson (Centennial, Colo.), finished second in the 125 pound bracket and closed the tournament with a 3-1 record. Wilson opened the all-day event with a win by fall in 2:08. Wrestling as the No. 4 seed, Wilson bested No. 1 seed Andrew McArthur of host school Lindenwood, 13-2. Wilson suffered a one point, 5-4, loss in the finals to Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma.
Third place finisher Kyle Bradley (St. Peters, Mo.) earned a first round bye and pinned Matt Chandler (RLC) in 2:14 to advance through the 141 pound championship bracket. After managing a 5-4 victory over Tyler Holloway (STCC), Bradley fell, 3-2, to Kyle Lewis (NSA). Bradley wrestled his way into the third place match by pinning No. 1 seeded Kyle Williams of McKendree in 54 seconds. The freshman Tiger wrestler closed out the day with a win by fall in 4:38 over second-seeded Sean Dong of Lindenwood.
The Tigers will return home and host the Black and Gold wrestle-off's Sunday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. (CT) in the Hearnes Center.