Grantham, Pennsylvania - Shane Ruhnke took runner-up at 165 pounds, leading a quartet of Millersville wrestlers to top-four finishes at Saturday's Messiah Open.
Along with Ruhnke, 133-pound
Aaron Wildonger took third, and 125-pound
Connor Sheehan and 174-pound
Liam Frank both placed fourth.
Ruhnke went 3-1, scoring first-period pins in each of his first two matches. A 3-0 decision over Maryland's Brendan Burnham pushed him to the championship bout against former four-time PIAA champ and Oklahoma State member Chance Marstellar. Marstellar won 15-0, continuing a trend. He won four of his bouts by tech fall.Â
Wildonger picked up his first win via forfeit before falling to eventual champ Ryan Flynn of York. In the consolation bracket, Wildonger scored a 10-2 major decision, and then captured third place after Drexel's Brendan Hasson suffered an injury early in the third period and could not continue.
Sheehan opened his day with a 53 second pin and another fall in 6:17, advancing to the championship semifinals. His run was stopped by Maryland's Michael Beck, who won 7-3 before finishing second. Sheehan scored a 17-0 tech fall in the consolation semis before dropping the third place bout by fall (4:150 to Maryland's Brandon Cray.
Frank went 2-2 in his fourth-place finish. His wins included a second-period pin (3:35) over Mark Patterson of Rowan and a 5-1 decision over Messiah's Tyler Hershey. Frank was pinned by Maryland's Spencer Woods in the third-place match.
Millersville returns to dual action on Feb. 10 at East Stroudsburg.
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