Full Bracket
Team Standings

North Manchester, Ind. - Despite wrestling without three of its top athletes, the Wheaton College wrestling team took seventh place at the Manchester College Spartan Mat Classic on Saturday.

In total, the short-handed Thunder had four of its seven wrestlers place in the top eight of their respective weight classes.

Freshman Casey Krahn placed for the first time in a college tournament by taking fourth at 141 pounds with a record of 3-2. Wheaton head coach Jim Gruenwald said Krahn came back from winter break a little light, so the coaching staff decided that it would be a good idea for him to drop down in weight to 141, and the results showed.

Sophomore Matthew Cordell also got his first collegiate placing by going 3-2 at 157 pounds to capture seventh place.

“It was awesome to see Cordell and Krahn place for the first time in a tournament in their collegiate careers,” Gruenwald said. “Several of the matches today came down to conditioning, and I told our guys we will never lose a match this year because of conditioning. Our guys are rising to the top while the other competitors are having their bodies break down with cutting weight and the grind of the season.”

Even though they came in unseeded, Justin Tomal and Justin Marble both reached championship matches. In his first matches back from injury, Tomal won the 174-pound class with a 3-0 record while Marble went 3-1 to take second place at 184 pounds. It was Tomal's second tournament win of the season.

“Tomal got hurt in the finals, but he continued on and pushed through it to win,” Gruenwald said. “It was a big gut check for him, and he could have stopped if he wanted to. But it was good to see him persevere.”

Other Wheaton wrestlers participating included Stephen Takashima at 149 pounds (1-2), Jonathan Sbraccia at 141 pounds (0-2) and Paul Harvey at 165 pounds (0-2).