Busy Sunday ends with victories against NC State, VMI, Gardner-Webb

The Hoosiers won all three of their dual meets Sunday when they traveled to North Carolina, improving their record to 11-7.

The wrestlers said they were excited to take to the mat against some new competition.

“It was a good day,” IU Coach Duane Goldman said. “It was good to wrestle some competition aside from the Big Ten we’ve been doing.”

The team first wrestled against North Carolina State, winning 31-19.

Freshman Luke Sheridan (184 pounds), senior Matt Powless (197 pounds) and sophomore Adam Chalfant (285 pounds) all came out strong, pinning their opponents.

The Hoosiers then went on to defeat Virginia Military Institute with a score of 39-6 for their second team win of the day.

The team continued to earn points as redshirt freshmen Joe Duca (133 pounds) and Preston Keiffer (165 pounds), as well as Powless, all won their matches with a pin.

“I thought I did all right today,” Powless said. “It took me a little too long to get started, and I was a bit sluggish at times, but those are all things I’m going to work on in practice this week.”

IU then traveled from Raleigh, N.C., to Boiling Springs, N.C., to compete against Gardner-Webb. The Hoosiers won with a score of 36-6, making them undefeated for the day.

Ortega and Chalfant both pinned their opponents. Chalfant was also the team’s leading scorer for the day with a total of 16 points earned for the Hoosiers.

Sophomore Ryan LeBlanc (174 pounds) scored big for the Hoosiers, earning a 21-6 tech fall against Erin O’Dell.

“I thought we did well,” Powless said. “It’s great we won three dual meets. Our guys wrestled really hard and really well to the best of our ability.”

The Hoosiers finished the day by scoring a combined total of 106 points against the three teams.

“The scores were lopsided, but our guys had to compete hard to get them,” Goldman said. “Altogether, it was good competition and good for our guys to come through with the results that they did.”