34 teams representing 22 schools made their way to University Heights Sunday for the JCU open that would mark the end of the regular season for most involved.

That included the host team, John Carroll, which claimed five placewinners and one champion to build some momentum heading into the postseason.

Sam Gross took care of business at the JCU Open, posting a perfect 4-0 record to push him to the 165-pound Blue bracket title.  Winning by the slimmest of margins in the title match (2-1) over Jackson Nevadomski of Davenport University, Gross was able to cap off a successful outing that included a technical fall and a fall in earlier matches.  

Along with the success of the day, the senior pushed his career win total to 26 for the Blue & Gold.

After beginning the day with a pin over Nick Kalafatis of Akron, Vittorio Santillo would march to the championship match at 174 pounds. Along the way, he added an 11-3 major decision over Baldwin Wallace's Dominic Shelley in the semifinals.  Santillo would fall to Ohio University's Blake Wilson in the title bout.

Jeff Brichford won two straight decisions that were absolute brawls until the bitter end.  Winning by two points over Alexander Miscovich (5-3) and then edging out West Virginia's unattached wrestler Tim Hritsko by one point, Brichford advanced to the 141 Gold Finals and would wind up as the runner-up.

After losing his first match to Kameron Kempker in an 8-3 Decision, 125-pounder Kyle Murray fired off two straight wins to get to the third place match.  While Ashland University's Christian Wellman would win out, Murray's 12th and 13th wins on the season propelled him to the podium.

For his first matches of the 2018-19 season, senior Mitch Tikkanen's return included heart-wrenching losses and blowout wins.  After securing the victory over Anthony Skulina from the University of Akron, Tikkanen lost a tightly contested, high scoring affair to Owen Balas of Gannon (Decision 19-16).  He responded with a lopsided 21-6 win over Notre Dame College's unattached Justin Crawford. While Tikkanen would not win the third place match, the senior was able to cap off his regular season with a positive showing.

Tikkanen, Larry Grapo (165), Eli Davenport (184) and Connor Bizjak (197) all competed in their first matches of the season today.

Bizjak won three matches, all by fall. Other wrestlers who won at least two matches included Dom Devine (141) and Stefan Farian (165)

The Blue Streaks will take to the mat next on February 22nd and 23rd for the NCAA Regionals in Crawfordsville, IN.