Wrestling sweeps Hoosier Duals

With three wrestlers going undefeated on the day, the host IU wrestling team swept the Hoosier Duals on Saturday, moving to 6-0 in dual meets for the year.

IU opened the meet with a 34-12 dual win against North Carolina-Greensboro. It then followed that with a come-from-behind 22-13 victory against Old Dominion before closing the day with another comeback, a 22-18 triumph against Northern Illinois.

The Hoosiers were led by senior Paul Young in the 157-pound weight class. Young went unbeaten and pinned his first two opponents of the day, including a 36-second fall of the Spartans’ Jonathan Rodebaugh.

Young was not the only Hoosier to pin his North Carolina-Greensboro opponent. Redshirt freshman Justin Brooks at 125 pounds, junior Matt Ortega at 133 pounds and true freshman Mitchell Richey at 141 pounds each recorded falls to open the meet, putting the Spartans in an 18-0 deficit from which they could never recover.

Though he did not join in on the parade of pins, junior Matt Powless, wrestling in the 197-pound weight class, also went undefeated to keep his season record perfect at 10-0.

He recorded major decisions in all three of his matches Saturday by scores of 16-4, 21-8 and 14-4.

Senior Ricky Alcala made his home debut on Saturday and also went undefeated in his three matches. While IU had already clinched victory against the Spartans before Alcala’s first match of the day, his win against Old Dominion ensured a Hoosier victory.

He was even more vital against Northern Illinois. IU held a 19-18 lead going into the final match, meaning that it depended entirely on the outcome of the heavyweight tilt. Alcala’s 5-2 victory against Dakota Greenhaw locked up the win for IU.

— Max McCombs