Walsh wins 149 pound bracket, 3 other Hoosiers place

Redshirt freshman Tyler Walsh added his second tournament title to his IU
career Saturday.

This weekend, the Hoosiers had four of their wrestlers place at the Michigan State Open in East Lansing, Mich. Walsh (149 pounds) had his hand raised five times Saturday, finishing first in his weight class. Walsh first defeated fifth-ranked Eric Grajales of Michigan with a score of 10-4. Walsh then went on to earn a pin within the first minute of the second round, as well as two straight decisions in the quarter- and semifinals.

Walsh earned his final win of the day against Michigan State’s Dan Osterman, with a decision of 3-2.

Redshirt freshman Ryen Nieman (133 pounds) made his season debut last weekend and finished third. Nieman’s only fall came from 11th-ranked Zac Stevens from Michigan in the semifinals.

Nieman later battled back to earn third place by pinning Rob Jillard of Northern Illinois at 2:59 in the first round.

Senior Matt Ortega earned fourth place with an overall record of 3-2.

Ortega started the day by pinning Chris Andrews of Findlay in 3:40. Ortega then won by a major decision against Columbia’s Matt Brystol with a score of 16-6.

He was unable to pull out a third straight win, and he fell to Scott Mattingly of Central Michigan with a score of 6-3.

Sophomore Ryan Leblanc (174 pounds) finished in fifth place. His only defeat came from 11th-ranked Nick Purdue of Ohio.

Leblanc continued to battle back to win his final match with a pin at 6:49 against Pittsburgh’s Nick Bonaccorsi.

“I thought we wrestled a lot better than the week before,” IU Coach Duane Goldman said. “Walsh had a great tournament and beat some pretty highly ranked individuals. This weekend also kind of gave us the opportunity to focus on some of our other guys and their performance.”