Basketball, track and field

happy to be home, wrestlers take two

The Muhlenberg wrestling team has gone north to King’s, traveled east to face NYU, south to Washington and Lee and west to Messiah.

But for the first time this year the Mules stayed put, traveling only as far as Memorial Hall for their first two Centennial Conference dual meets of the season against Gettysburg and Johns Hopkins.

After starting 0-3 in dual meets, the Mules were able to

Fitch was one of four Mules to go 2-0 on the day.

post two wins, defeating Gettysburg 29-15 and Johns Hopkins 22-18.

“You always wrestle a little better when your parents are watching,” said senior Billy Hall, who traveled further than any of the other Mule grapplers to study abroad in the Netherlands last semester.

“Today we had our full lineup ready to go,” said freshman heavyweight Nick Pallotta, “so were hoping to do some damage.”

In their match against Gettysburg, the Mules took seven of the 10 weight classes. Hall started the run on Gettysburg with a pin in the first period in his first match back with the Mules. Freshman Kevin Homan (141) and sophomore Keith Swanson (165) had major decisions for Muhlenberg. Senior Matt Horn (184) won his eleventh consecutive match with a pin in the second period.

Against Johns Hopkins, the Blue Jays jumped out to an 11-0 lead, with a decision and two major decisions in the first three weight classes. Senior Rob Kein (149) started the Mules’ comeback with a 15-6 major decision, which was followed up by a technical fall from Swanson to put Muhlenberg within two (11-9).

Hopkins added another four points with a major decision at 165, but senior Justin Fitch answered with his own 11-2 major decision victory.

At the 184 bout, Horn was winning by just one point going into the third period before he added five for the decision that gave the Mules the lead for the first time in the match (16-15).

The Blue Jays took a two-point lead back at 197, but held it for less than two minutes. Pallotta got an escape and a quick takedown for a pin and the 22-18 victory.

“It’s my first college meet where I’ve been put in this position,” said Pallotta. “I just tried to step up for the team. But it was a collective effort. We all worked hard and we won when we needed to.

“Swanson had a great day and he really stepped up,” continued Pallotta. “The first match against Gettysburg he bumped up a weight class. And he had the tech fall against Johns Hopkins. If it wasn’t for that, the win wouldn’t have happened.”
Click here for box scores.