Powless, Ortega shine at Michigan State Open

Matt Ortega wasted no time in starting his season.

The junior, wrestling at 133 pounds, needed all of six seconds to pin his first opponent, Ethan Harris of the University of Indianapolis, on his way to a birth in the finals in his weight class at the season-opening Michigan State Open on Saturday.

“To pin someone in six seconds, you have to stick your nose in there pretty quickly,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “He’s obviously being aggressive.”

Ortega was joined in the finals of the Open division of the tournament by four of his teammates; senior Kurt Kinser at 149 pounds, senior Paul Young at 157 pounds, junior Matt Powless at 197 pounds and senior Ricky Alcala at heavyweight. Of the finalists, Powless was the only one to win his championship match, defeating Pittsburgh’s Matt Wilps 8-5.

“I thought we wrestled pretty well,” Goldman said. “We had a number of guys make the finals. They lost close matches but gave good efforts. Powless won and wrestled really well all weekend.”

Alcala was wrestling in his first official event for the Hoosiers after transferring from the University of California-Davis, which discontinued its wrestling program after last season. Alcala won four matches, including a semifinal triumph by major decision, before losing 5-3 to Northwestern’s Mike McMullan in the finals.

Redshirt freshman Justin Brooks, at 125 pounds, responded to a second-round loss by reeling off four straight wins in the consolation bracket, including a tech fall and a major decision, to take third.

Fellow redshirt freshman Ryan LeBlanc also debuted Saturday but was forced to withdraw after injuring his knee in the quarterfinals. He will have the knee evaluated by doctors this week, but Goldman said it may be serious enough to end his season.