LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Mountaineers hosted the No. 8 Argos Friday night in Quinn Coliseum. A battle between two of the top 10 teams in the country came down to the last match as Providence narrowly escaped La Grande with an 18-15 win.
A tight dual showed in the results as the biggest margin of victory was only six points out of all the matches on the evening. The highlight of the evening for the Mounties came in the 174-pound weight class. Keegan Mulhill, the all-time wins leader for EOU Men's Wrestling, added another milestone to his resume picking up his 100
th win as a Mountie. Mulhill nearly caught Providence's Hayden Schrull for a pin as time ticked down in the first period but would have to settle with a 10-4 victory.
Heading into the final match of the evening the score was even at 15-15. Eastern pulled out all the stops to try and squeak out the victory running out No. 6 ranked 197 pounder, Jay Smith, to take on Providence's No. 2 ranked heavyweight, K.C. Buday. Smith battled to the end despite a large size disadvantage. Buday was able to hold on for a 6-3 victory over Smith to clinch the victory for the Argos.
Eastern will return to action next weekend at the Missouri Valley Invite in Marshall, Mo. The two-day tournament starts on Friday, Jan. 20.
RESULTS:
125: Luciano Fasulo (EOU) over Deven Altenburg - Lasher (UP) (Dec 3-0)
133: Joel Avila (UP) over Zach Mauras (EOU) (Dec 6-3)
141: Jaxon Morlan (EOU) over Caleb Birdwell (UP) (Dec 10-5)
149: Dougie Swanson (UP) over Chad Muenzer (EOU) (Dec 2-1)
157: Aden Graves (UP) over Vincent Cramer (EOU) (Dec 4-2)
165: EOU forfeit, Jordan Komac (UP)
174: Keegan Mulhill (EOU) over Hayden Schrull (UP) (Dec 10-4)
184: Kyle Knudtson (EOU) over Sawyer Hobbs (UP) (Dec 8-6)
197: Marco Retano (EOU) over Liam Swanson (UP) (SV-1 3-1)
285: K.C. Buday (UP) over Jay Smith (EOU) (Dec 6-3)