Junior Jason Brew (Sparta) captured the 157-pound championship to lead the Olivet College wrestling team to a sixth-place finish (out of 27 schools) at the two-day Pete Willson-Wheaton College Invitational at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill. The Comets, who were fourth of 24 NCAA Division III schools, tallied 72 points. Univ. of Wisconsin-LaCrosse took the team championship with 143 points.

Brew posted a 5-0 record en route to the championship. In the championship match against Wisconsin-LaCrosse’s Jay Milz, he scored a takedown in the closing seconds of the third period to secure a 3-1 win. Earlier in the day, Brew beat Elmhurst’s Kyle Katz, 5-4, in the semifinals.

Junior Kyle Vanderhyde (Sparta) had a 4-1 record and finished in second-place at 174 pounds. In one of the most anticipated and exciting matches of the entire tournament, he wrestled Wisconsin-LaCrosse’s Josh Chelf in the championship match, which was their first meeting since the finals at last year’s NCAA Division III National Championships. Like last year, Chelf came out on top, but by a much closer score this time around, 6-5. Earlier in the day, Vanderhyde defeated Wheaton’s Toby Botlz, 3-1, in the semifinals.

Other place-winners for Olivet were senior Daron Cruickshank (Inkster/John Glenn) at 165 pounds and junior Kyle Labrecque (Battle Creek/Lakeview) at 125 pounds. In today’s action, Cruickshank posted a 4-3 tiebreaker win in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket. After losing his next match, he came back a 9-2 win over Lakeland’s Jake Frias in the fifth-place match. Labrecque fell 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket, but bounced back to post a 10-0 major decision win over Elizabethtown’s Martin Harnish in the seventh-place match.

The Comets return to action next Saturday, Feb. 9, when they participate in the Mid-States Conference Tournament, which is being hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terra Haute, Ind.

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