ADRIAN, Mich. – The Trine University men's wrestling team opened the season with a second place finish at the 2025 Adrian Invite. Wins by Ben Edwards and Tommy Miller were the highlights of the tournament which saw eight grapplers standing on the podium at the end of the day.
The Thunder finished the event with 141.5 points to take second. Baldwin Wallace University won the event with 172 points, while Heidelberg came in third with 129.
Kaden Golder dropped his first match in the 125 bracket, but went on to wrestle his way to the third-place match where he won by tech fall to secure the spot. He recorded two major decisions and a pin on his way to the victory.
Edwards got his victory in the 133 bracket, winning four straight to capture the championship. His first win was by pin and his second was by decision. He defeated Alex LaCava in the championship bout with a major decision. LaCava had a pin and decision on his way to the runner-up finish.
Miller defeated his opponents handily in the first two rounds, both coming by fall. His semifinal match was the closest of his wins coming with a 14-9 decision. He finished the day with a tech fall in the first-place match.
Austin Crowder just missed out on a podium spot in the 157 bracket. He won his first two matches, once by fall and the other by tech fall, but dropped his semifinal contest to fall to the consolation bracket. There he won by tech fall again to reach the third-place match. He lost the final contest of the day to fall to fourth place.
Trine had two of the three podium spots at 174. Nayl Sbay won two straight matches, one by fall, to reach the first-place match. He finished as runner-up after a loss. Ben Shaffer lost his first before winning four straight to take third. He needed a sudden victory point to defeat Lakin Webb in the consolation semifinal before winning the third-place match. Webb finished fifth in the bracket with a pin in the after the tight loss in the semis.
Gavin Malone was the only competitor at 184 for the team and he finished fifth. He started the day with two wins before falling in the semifinal to move to the consolation side of the bracket. His second loss sent him to the fifth-place match where he prevailed.
Xander Matz-Lachance was the top finisher at 197 for the team coming in third. He ultimately only wrestled twice on the day, both coming against the same opponent from Adrian. The Bulldog got the win in the first match, but when they met again in the third-place contest, Matz-Lachance won 4-3.
Davin George was runner up in the 285 bracket. He had two decisions to reach the championship bout, before falling to a grappler from Baldwin Wallace. Isaac Moss finished fourth in the bracket, winning twice in the consolation bracket to capture the spot.
The Thunder will return home for their next event, hosting the 2025 Trine Invite on Saturday, November 8. Opening matches are set to begin at 9:30 a.m.
