Three Hoosiers fall just short in Hokie Open

Coming off of a season opener win, the IU wrestling team was on the road Sunday to compete in the Hokie Open.

In its fifth year, the Hokie Open was an individual tournament in which each wrestler advanced separately following a double-elimination style. This guaranteed each wrestler two matches.

“It’s our first weekend, and it’s our first tournament, and the first opportunity to see some pretty good competition this year,” IU Coach Duane Goldman said. “ I wanted to see where were at and was trying to define our team a little bit more, maybe iron out some starting positions.”

The Hoosiers had 17 wrestlers in action during the tournament including two ranked individuals. Junior Ryan LeBlanc went into the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the 165 weight class. His teammate, junior Adam Chalfant, had the title of No. 3 seed in the heavyweight division.

Redshirt freshman Phil Fisher suffered an early loss in the 141 class to Acton Pifer of Appalachian State, 0-9 as well as Nick Heilmann of North Carolina 2-0.

Redshirt freshman Joe Randazzo also competed at the 149 weight class but came up short, as well, losing 4-14 against North Carolina’s Chris Mears followed by a loss to Connor Duffey of Washington and Lee 5-4.

But the Hoosiers began to pick up steam with a 4-0 win coming from sophomore Cheney Dale in the 174 weight class.

IU’s first pin came from sophomore Luke Sheridan in his first win of the day against Morgan Moskal of Washington and Lee, and it would be one of 13 pins for IU.

In the ten competing weight classes, four Hoosiers made it past the third round and into the championship semifinals, including sophomore Joe Duca, sophomore Taylor Walsh, LeBlanc and Chalfant.

Duca progressed to the semifinals of the 125 weight class before being pinned by Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech.

Duca would go on to lose in the consolation final, placing fourth overall.
Chalfant, Walsh and LeBlanc all moved on to the championships finals. All three came up just short, each finishing second overall.

“My performance wasn’t bad.  I made some mistakes, but of course that happens with every wrestler, but besides that I thought that overall my performance was good, and I’m looking forward to the next tournament,” Chalfant said.

The Hoosiers had six wrestlers place during the tournament.