All-American Kyle Kwiat earns MVP honors to lead No. 23 Wrestling at 31st Annual ONU Invitational
ADA — Junior All-American Kyle Kwiat won Tournament MVP honors to lead the No. 23-ranked Ohio Northern wrestling team at the 31st Annual ONU Invitational Saturday at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears finished sixth out of 16 teams with 106.5 points.
No. 13-ranked (NCAA III) Olivet (Mich.) won the team title with 147 points, No. 1 (NAIA) Campbellsville (Ky.) was second with 138 points, No. 11 (NCAA II) Mercyhurst (Pa.) was third with 135.5 points and No. 8-ranked (NAIA) Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) was fourth with 125.5 points.
Kwiat, who is ranked No. 6 nationally at 184 pounds, won the individual title at his more natural 174-pound weight class with an impressive 5-0 record.
He also won the Most Falls Award with four pins and a tech fall accounting for his five victories.
Kwiat had pins in 1:21, 3:15, 6:45 and 1:15 after winning his opening match by tech fall 16-0.
He is now 9-0 on the season with four pins and three tech falls.
Senior Billy Painter also won an individual title for the Polar Bears, posting a 5-0 record to win the 165-pound weight class.
Painter, now 6-3 on the year, had three decisions and two major decisions on the day.
In all, eight Ohio Northern wrestlers placed in the top eight in their respective weight classes.
Junior Jeremy Jones placed third at 133 pounds with a 6-1 record, winning five times by decision and once by medical forfeit to improve to 8-3 on the year.
Sophomore Michael Pawlitz continued his hot start by finishing third at the 197-pound weight class.
Pawlitz had a 5-1 record with three pins and two decisions and is now 10-1 on the year with seven pins.
Senior Mick Letcher placed fourth at 165 pounds was 4-2 on the afternoon and is now 6-2 on the season.
Sophomore Colton Zody placed sixth at 197 pounds and freshman Cody Lovejoy was sixth at heavyweight for ONU.
Zody finished with a 3-3 mark in his first action of the season and Lovejoy was 4-3 with three pins and is now 6-3 on the year.
Sophomore Jerome Pasquale placed seventh at 125 pounds with a 3-2 record and is now 3-4 on the year.
The Polar Bears will return to action Friday with a road dual match at Manchester (Ind.)
