EDWARDSVILLE, Il. – The Bellarmine University wrestling team had a strong showing this past weekend at SIUE's Cougar Clash with six wrestlers placing in their respective weight classes and a fourth-place team finish in highly ranked field.

The Knights entered the tournament after nearly three full weeks without competition against a highly ranked field of competitors, going against 41 individually ranked opponents from five highly rated programs with four ranked in the top 20 and one receiving votes in the NWCA poll.
 
"This was a great tournament to test ourselves after a couple weeks off of competition," head coach Ned Shuck said. "The team continues to improve its consistency in our fight."
 
Bellarmine was led by redshirt sophomore Grant O'Dell (174) and senior Daulton Mayer (285) who placed third in each of their divisions.
 
After receiving a first-round bye, O'Dell showed his mettle, winning 3-1 in the second tie breaker over Missouri's Jake Stoffel before falling 3-1 in a tight battle with No. 25 Clayton Whiting from Minnesota in the semifinal. O'Dell returned to the mat in the consolation semifinals, defeating Little Rock's Kodiak Cannedy 3-2 to move on to the third-place match where he earned an 11-1 major decision victory Logan Cole of Missouri.
 
Mayer started his path with a pin (7:00) of SIUE's Bryson Buhk in the first round before falling by pin (1:35) to Little Rock's Keith Miley. Mayer received a bye in the first round of consolation play before getting back to action with another victory by fall (0:28) over Remington Peterson of Northern Colorado. Mayer did not stop there, winning for the third time by fall (2:21) over Jacob Christensen of Northern Illinois in the consolation semifinal before finally taking down SIUE's Bryson Buhk for the second time, this time by 8-5 decision, in the third-place match.
 
As for the rest of the Knights squad, Bellarmine received key contributions from senior Cole Nance (165) and redshirt senior Devan Hendricks (184) who placed fourth, in addition to redshirt freshman Andrew Liber (197) who finished fifth and redshirt sophomore Damion Ryan who added a sixth-place finish.
 
Overall, Bellarmine scored 89.5 team points, good for a fourth-place finish behind No. 8 Minnesota (268.5), No. 16 Missouri (183.0) and Northern Colorado (157.0). The Knights narrowly edged Northern Illinois (89.5) while finishing ahead of SIUE (81.0), No. 20 Little Rock (74.0) and No. 13 Illinois (37.5).
 
"We had some really gritty matches and some near misses today," Shuck said of his team's performance. "This weekend gives us great information going into our break before the Soldier Salute after Christmas."
 
Up next, the Knights will enjoy a long holiday break before returning the mat once again December 29-30 at the Soldier Salute tournament in Coralville, Ia.
 
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