Wrestling team remains winless

Aaron Clouse
Sports Reporter

The wrestling Cougars remain winless on the season after a 42-9 loss to Central Missouri State (11-5) Saturday, taking their record to 0-8.

"They have a solid lineup and are in good shape," SIUE head coach Booker Benford said about the Mules team. "They keep coming at you the entire match."

The Cougars started the match with the upper weight classes. Titus Taylor was the first wrestler to start the match in the 165-pound weight class. Taylor pinned Nate Smith of the Mules in 1:07. This gave the Cougars a 6-0 lead.

Zach Stephens gave the Cougars three more points with a 4-3 decision over Matt Johnson at the 174-pound class. The lead would be cut to five when John Rolling of CMSU received a major decision over Ross Renken, 11-3. The Cougars would give up six points with the first of three forfeits to CMSU at 197-pound class, giving the Mules a 10-9 lead. Willie McCowan of CMSU pinned Aaron Wiens in 2:06.

The Cougars' lighter weight classes would not fare as well as the heavy ones. CMSU received a forfeit win at the 125-pound weight class. At 133-pound class, Luke Shaw of CMSU won by a major decision against Marc Justice 11-3. CMSU scored six more when Zak Knight pinned Denale Powell in 4:39. Tim Bradley scored four more points for CMSU with a 9-0 major decision over Nathan Graumenz. The Cougars finished the match by giving up another forfeit at 157-pound weight class.

"Some of our guys wrestled better today than before, but others forgot some of the basics," Benford said.

The Cougars finally ended their eight-match losing streak against Truman State (2-9-1) Sunday with a 12-12 tie. The Cougars improved to 0-8-1. This was SIUE's final home match and it was also "Senior Night."

The Cougars only had one senior, Titus Taylor. Taylor is ending his home-match career at SIUE undefeated in four years. Taylor is now ranked No. 2 in the nation in Division II.

"It is exciting to finish out undefeated at home," Taylor said. "Now I am going to work extra hard to train for the national tournament."

Both teams started the match with forfeits at the 125-pound class. The Bulldogs scored first when Chris Brown decisioned Justice 3-2 in the 133-pound class. The 141-pound class was also a forfeit for both teams.

Both teams again would forfeit at the 157-pound class. Taylor would score a 20-3 technical default over Bo Rinehart early in the second period.

Stephens would score a major decision for SIUE over Don Cummings at the 174-pound class. Chris Benner of CMSU pinned Renken in 4:08 to bring the Bulldogs to within three points.

The 197-pound class was another forfeit for both teams. Erik Simms defeated Wiens 9-5 at the heavyweight class to make the final 12-12.

"We wrestled better, but there is still room for improvement," Benford said. "Graumenz beat Kieffer who is ranked second in the nation at the 141 class. This will be a little bit of a motivator for our next match against Indiana."

The Cougars will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to face Indiana University (12-8) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.