LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bellarmine wrestling will compete in its final tournament of the season tomorrow, January 9, heading to Lancaster, PA for the David H. Lehman Franklin & Marshall Open.

Action on the mat is set to begin at 9 am E.T. and will go on all day at the Franklin & Marshall's Alumni Sports & Fitness Center. 463 athletes from 33 different schools are registered to compete in the event.

In their last time out, the Knights competed in the Southern Scuffle and Soldier Salute January 3-4. At the Southern Scuffle, redshirt sophomore Noah Hall earned top billing with an eighth-place finish in the 165-pound weight class. Hall began his run with a pin of Morgan State's Antoine Glasgow in 2:16. In the second round, he earned a 7-3 statement win over Brown's Max Norman, ranked No. 26 at 165 by TCWR. After a decision loss in the quarter finals, Hall bounced back with an 8-2 decision over Michigan State's DJ Shannon before dropping back-to-back matches to finish eighth.
Redshirt junior Trayce Eckman (133) joined Hall in the ranked wins department, defeating California Baptist's Richard Murillo, No. 32 by TCWR, by 6-5 decision.

Although he didn't earn a placement, redshirt junior Grant O'Dell (174) turned in the best record of any Knight at the event, going 4-2 with both losses coming in overtime periods. O'Dell opened the tournament with an 11-2 major decision oven Penn State's Sean Degl before taking down Utah Vallye's Tanner Lofthouse by 2-0 decision. O'Dell took his first loss in the second tiebreaker against Penn's Caden Bellis. He bounced back immediately however, winning by 17-3 major decision over Army's Hayden Hochstasser before defeating North Carolina's Murphy Menke in the second tiebreaker. O'Dell finished his weekend with a sudden victory loss to Chattanooga's Kamdyn Munro.

At the Soldier Salute, grad student Steven Villalobos was the lone placer, taking eighth place in the 157-pound weight class. In just his second action of the year, Villalobos bounced back from an opening round loss with three straight wins, defeating fellow Knight Charlie Gessford by tech fall, 17-1, South Dakota State's Zach Ballante with a pin in 4:07 and North Carolina's Joey Showalter by 12-8 decision. From there, he dropped his final two matches to take eighth place.

Redshirt senior Nate Higley tied Villalobos for the team lead with three wins while redshirt freshman Joe Calvin, redshirt sophomore Christian Moder and freshman Nick Piontkowski turned in two wins each.

Head coach Ned Shuck is sending a squad of 22 Knights to compete in the event as a final tune-up for Bellarmine's remaining dual and conference slate.

Results from the David H. Lehman Franklin & Marshall Open can be found through FloWrestling.

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