Vikings wrestling gets underway, falls in home opener

The team looks to a comeback at home during the CSU Open this month

Cleveland State University wrestling got underway during the beginning of November with a series of three matches in Piscataway, New Jersey back on Nov. 7. They started strong right out of the gate taking out Binghamton with a 22-18 victory.

Sophomore Logan Heil pinned his opponent in two minutes and ten seconds to quickly take a 6-0 lead. This was followed by an overtime victory from sophomore Marcus Robinson and a 5-3 victory from freshman Daniel Patten to put the Vikings ahead 12-9. From then on it was pure domination from the Vikings.

Following the matches against Binghamton, the Vikings took on Rutgers where they would be absolutely shut down. Rutgers was on top of the Vikings from the very beginning taking a 20-0 lead before Sophomore Riley Smucker gave them their first win with a 9-5 decision. That would be the only highlight of the match against Rutgers as Cleveland State would fall to them 35-3.

A Vikings wrestler tries to take down his opponent. Photo courtesy of Rutgers Sports Info

The final match of the day was against NJCU and the Vikings took out their frustrations from the previous match on the unsuspecting opponent. It was all Vikings for the whole match as Heil and freshman Jake Manley got them off to a roaring start to put them up 8-0. NJCU would score their only points of the match due to default from Cleveland State because of injury.

Robinson, Patten, and Smucker all came through once again. The final tally was a 45-6 win from Cleveland State making them 2-1 early in the season. Smucker has truly come through as a star for the Vikings, going 3-0 in New Jersey as he looks to be another great find for the team.

The Vikings then brought it home to face a ranked Purdue team on Nov. 14. It was a rough match for Cleveland State in their home gymnasium as Purdue, similar to Rutgers, took it to the Vikings. The only wins on the day came from Robinson and sophomore DeAndre Nassar. Nassar’s win came on an exciting 2-1 match which was the Vikings’ last breath before being shut out the rest of the day.

The Vikings will look to bounce back strong in December, opening up the month with the CSU Open on Dec. 11 before heading to West Virginia on Dec. 20.