While the Roadrunner wrestling team battled competitively in a 26-25 conference loss to Union College Tuesday night at home, Coach Paul Toppin knows his club needs to show some improvement as they look ahead to the GSAC Championship meet at the end of January.
The Runners, now 5-3 in dual meets, fell behind with losses in early bouts by a 26-3 count -- and simply could not catch up.
"We got caught up trying to make too many big moves tonight from a couple of our guys and not sticking to the basics," said Toppin. "We need to score the points when we can and not give up points when we shouldn't.
"We have the ability and we have the talent. We will be working on this in our upcoming practices, plus hopefully we will get some relief with one of our wrestlers retuning from an injury soon."
On the mat, sophomore Stephen Dmytryk earned the first individual win in the match, rallying from an early 3-0 deficit to claim a 5-3 decision over the Owls' Salvatore Randazzo at 141 pounds. Dmytryk used a takedown and reversal while effectively holding off a late challenge from Randazzo to secure the win.
RCSJ freshman Quinn Weismer also stepped up with a key 12-1 win at 174 pounds to help the Runners close out on a high note.
"We got down early tonight, but everyone on the team supports each other and we know we can bounce back moving forward," said Wesimer. "We're confident moving forward."