BEREA, Ohio --  John Carroll University Wrestling traveled to Berea, Ohio on Sunday, January 24 to compete in their first duel meets of the 2020-21 season, wrestling against both Otterbein University and Baldwin Wallace University.

With a convincing win over the Cardinals and a narrow defeat to the Yellow Jackets, the No. 2 Blue Streaks emerge with a 1-1 record after the first of three weekends of Ohio Athletic Conference wrestling. 

John Carroll: 36, Otterbein: 13 

The Blue Streaks took on the Otterbein Cardinals in the first set of matches.  

Kyle Murray was able to work his way into the starting lineup this year and kicked off the day by defeating Chase Nelson by fall. The 125-pound junior had to wrestle behind all-American Andrew Perelka for the past two seasons, but Murray still finished as one of the top wrestlers on the team, in terms of victories, totaling 44 wins over the past two years.

No. 3 ranked Andrew Perelka, moving up into the 133-pound weight class for this season, won his match by forfeit, scoring six points for the Blue Streaks.

Jackson Reineke of Otterbein then suffered a technical fall to standout senior No. 3 Jarrod Brezovec of John Carroll with a score of 16-0.  

After Otterbein picked up a win in the 149-pound weight class, John Carroll turned to veteran Sammy Gross in the 157-pound weight class to get back on track. Gross defeated his opponent by a 10-4 score, giving the Blue Streaks a commanding 20-3 lead over the Cardinals.

No. 5 Luke Reicosky added six more points for John Carroll, pinning Sam Shalvey after just 1 minute and 44 seconds into the match.

Continuing on his success from freshman year, Patrick McGraw won by major decision at 174 pounds over freshman Kyle De Moss by a score of 17-5, putting John Carroll 30-3 over the Cardinals.

With the Blue Streaks suffering losses in the 184 and 197 pound weight class, Otterbein totaled 13 points to John Carroll's 30. 

Jeff Kusar made his freshman debut at the heavyweight division and did not disappoint. Kusar pinned his opponent in the second round, giving the Blue Streaks a 36-13 victory over the Cardinals.


Baldwin Wallace: 26, John Carroll: 16

After defeating the Otterbein Cardinals, the Blue Streaks focused on their second set of matches for the day going up against the No. 6 nation ranked team and cross town rivals, the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets. 

Baldwin Wallace won the first match of the evening with a major decision at 125 pounds. Andrew Perelka got the Blue Streaks back on track, winning by a 4-3 decision and adding three points for John Carroll. 

The Blue and Gold took the lead after a big win in the 141-pound weight class when Jarrod Brezovec defeated Zachary Anderson. Brezovec pinned Anderson after just over 2 minutes into the match, adding six points to the total score for JCU.

The Yellow Jackets wouldn't back down easily, though, as seen when they won with a tech fall in the 149-pound match, tying the team scores up at nine points a piece. Baldwin Wallace would continue to score with three points coming from a decision win in the 157-pound match. 

At 165, Luke Reciosky won on a 6-5 decision over BW wrestler Luke Hopkins, adding three more points for John Carroll and once again tying the rival teams. 

Patrick McGraw won his second match of the day, again with a major decision, over Joseph Koplow of Baldwin Wallace at 174 pounds. His effort is even more impressive considering he rose three weight classes from last season.

"It feels awesome to be back on the mat, but the overwhelming feeling is gratitude.  We talk a lot about gratitude as a team and I'm beyond grateful to have this opportunity to compete."  Stated McGraw, "It definitely is an adjustment rolling with these bigger opponents, but I don't look at this as a big obstacle because I've worked hard and I want to be here."

A tech fall in favor of Yellow Jacket Lucas Salmon in the 184 pound weight class put Baldwin Wallace up 17-16 over John Carroll. The hosts furthered this lead to 23-16 after a fall in the 197-pound match, effectively sealing the Yellow Jackets' victory over the Blue Streaks. 

Baldwin Wallace would also take the 285-pound match up on a 3-2 decision win, giving Baldwin Wallace a final 26-16 victory over John Carroll.

"We looked good today, but just made some mistakes that would've been corrected months ago with a normal season."  Said head coach Mark Hawald, "Winning is the preferred outcome, but we can't overlook the gift of competing."

John Carroll goes to 1-1 on the season and will face off against Ohio Northern and Wilmington next Sunday.