Ruhnke wins, Marauders place three at "Shorty" for first time in 10 years

Saturday, January 12

Millersville, PA

9:00 AM

Millersville University

"Shorty" Hitchcock Memorial Classic

Ruhnke wins, Marauders place three at "Shorty" for first time in 10 years

1/12/2019 7:47:00 PM | Wrestling

Final Results

By: Ryan Small, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Millersville, Pa. – Redshirt senior Shane Ruhnke won the 165-pound weight class leading three Marauder placewinners at the "Shorty" Hitchcock Memorial Classic on Saturday. Ruhnke scored a pin in the finals to become Millersville's first winner at the event since 2008. It was also the first time since the 2008-09 season that Millersville had more than one place at the event.

In addition to Ruhnke, junior Caleb Warner took second while redshirt senior David Wuestner placed fourth at 285 pounds. Ruhnke became the fifth Marauder to win at the tournament since the tournament the format was changed in 2004-05 season.

TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS
• Ruhnke pinned Neil Antrassian of University of Pennsylvania at the 2:30 mark in the championship match to secure the title. Ruhnke did the same in the semifinals bout where he scored a pin at 4:04 against Brad Luaghlin of Army. Ruhnke scored a 13-8 decision win in the quarterfinals against Mitch Hartman of Bucknell. Ruhnke began his day with his fastest pin of the season (2:05) against Kellen Ekern of Old Dominion.
• Warner went 3-1 on the day, ending up in the 285-pound championship match against Bob Heald of Army. Warner was unable to hold off Heald's attack and the Division I wrestler to secure the title by an 11-2 major decision. Warner made it to the first-place match by defeating his own teammate, freshman Joshua Walls, in the semifinals by a 2-1 decision. Before earning a medical forfeit in the quarterfinals, Warner overpowered a conference opponent in John Barlow of Kuztown by a 18-0 technical fall at the 6:41 mark.
• Wuestner had a late consolation bracket push after being defeated in the quarterfinals by Brendan Fuman of Cornell. Wuestner won the next three bouts, defeating Barlow (10-3), Brandon Stokes of Bucknell (8-3) and Walls by a 1:58 fall in the consolation bracket quarterfinals. In the third-place match, Wuestner lost 7-3 to Navy's Riley Smith.
• Walls, 184-pound Evan Morrill and 133-pound Ryan McGuire went 2-2.

HEAD COACH KERRY REGNER QUOTES
• "Caleb is very consistent in his year-round training. He trains for 12 months out of the year, and trains for a purpose. He is going to continue to improve because of his performance today."
• "I think the team as a whole is training with a purpose. When you do that, you will find yourself exceeding expectations of what you originally thought. You will start to pass guys you never dreamt of passing. If we can continue with this mindset and even expand it, we will see lots of growth in the program."
• "This is good mat time for Shane. It's very encouraging to see many guys on the team compete at a high level at tournaments like this."
• "David Wuestner is gaining ground on his competitors. It's very encouraging to see his tenacity and his work ethic all come together today."

NOTES
• Ruhnke and McGuire became the first Marauders to reach 10 wins this season. Ruhnke posted his 13th victory while McGuire captured his 11th. Three of Ruhnke's four bouts resulted in pins. Ruhnke's last 10 matches have all come against Division I opponents, and he is 9-1 in that stretch.
• Warner improved his season record to 5-4 while also picking up his first technical fall win of the season.
• Wuestner earned his eighth tournament victory.

UP NEXT
• The Marauders head to the Kuztown Duals where they will start off with LIU Post on Friday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The following day, the Marauders face East Stroudsburg, American International and Minot State.

FOLLOW THE MARAUDERS
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