Marshall, Missouri—USM men's wrestling left a huge impact at the Missouri Valley Invite this Friday the 23^rd and Saturday the 24^th in Burns Athletic Center.
The Spire men would have an outstanding finish in this highly competitive tournament as they ended their weekend in 7^th place out of 61 teams with a total of 105.5 points.

Spire standout Brody Gee, now ranked #4 nationally, left his mark yet again in the highly competitive 125lb. weight-class as he dominantly earned 1^st place after taking down the #3, #6, and #16 wrestlers in all of NAIA and earning the honor of receiving the "Most Outstanding Wrestler" award, only given to one wrestler in the entire tournament.

Gee started his weekend off with a bye, then in rounds two and three Brody won by tech fall over Benjamin Peralta of Simpson (Calif.) and then pinned Dylan Atherton of Midland. Brody would go on to again win by fall over Albert of Missouri Valley and defeat #5 ranked Hughes from Marion University. Gee's final 1^st place match would be a tough battle over #3 ranked Haden Hernandez of Missouri Valley where Brody would ultimately come out victorious by decision 7-6, bolstering his USM teammates efforts and bringing his squad an additional 26.5 points overall.

Roman De La Cruz would have a tough go of things in the 133lb. weight-class. De La Cruz would fall to Rodriguez of Hastings by decision 2-4 and again to Prado of Baker by decision 12-15.
Bobby Burke would earn his team an additional 7 points in the 141lb. weight-class. Burke would start off strong with a win by fall over Molina of St. Thomas University. Bobby would fall in the second round to Stiffler of Bismarck State College; however, he would go on to claim the next three matches over athletes from Georgetown and Ottawa University.

Ryan Buccat in the 149lb. weight-class scored an additional 4.5 points for his squad. Buccat would drop his first match to Kirkland of Montreat College. He would claim two victories in a row after this by fall and tech fall over Dickinson State and Concordia, respectively. However, Ryan would drop his final match 1-10 to Cal Beadling of Campbellsville.

Ben Smith (149lb.) would claim his first three matches over wrestlers from Concordia (Neb.) and Central Methodist by way of bye, pin over Price from Concordia, and win by major decision (14-2) over Walker of Central Methodist. In his final two matches, Smith would be defeated 2-19 by Brody Brisker of William Penn and Moraga of St. Ambrose University.

Trevor Mogren would receive a bye his first round, but then drop his final two matches in the 157lb. weight-class to Graves of Montana State and Broyles of Baker.
Josey Jernegan (157lb.) would fight his way to the top, finishing impressively in 2^nd place on the weekend in the 157lb. weight-class and scoring his Spire team 22.5 points. Josey would claim his first five matches. He would pin his first two competitors from Eastern Oregon University and Waldorf. Jernegan would defeat Gavin Braun of Dakota Wesleyan by tech fall 20-3 and finish out with two decision wins over Arberry 12-6 and Furthmyre 8-3. His only loss would come in the 1^st place match against Heistand of Concordia after an extremely hard fought few days for the junior.

Graham Kilpper in the 165lb. weight-class notched 7^th place, scoring his squad another 15.5 points. Graham would win by decision over Webb of Ottawa, then subsequently fall to Sederburg of William Woods. Kilpper would win the next five matches in a row with a victory by decision (9-6) over Rudebaugh of Eastern Oregon, win by fall over Dulin of Friends University, win by decision (11-10) over Trigg of Indiana Tech, win by fall over Carey of Concordia, and another pin over Napolitano of Truett-McConnell. Cole Price would defeat Graham in the consolation round 7 by fall, but Kilpper would be awarded the 7^th place match due to a medical forfeit from Sederburg of William Woods.

Lleyton Hoover would receive a bye in the first round of his weekend in the 165lb. weight-class, but would then fall to Dylan Whitt of Grand View by tech fall 2-17 and Hodge of Central Methodist by decision 2-5.
Michael Ager in the 174lb. weight-class fought for a first-round win by decision 6-4 over Bauer of Missouri Baptist University. However, Ager's weekend would be cut short by Buchanan of Indiana Tech by fall and a consolation round 2 loss to Heuter of Hope International University by tech fall 4-20.

Gabe Chesbro would have another strong weekend in the 197lb. weight-class as he finished 5^th overall, tallying his team 16.5 points. Chesbro would claim his first four matches with a first-round bye, a tech fall 18-1 over Beaudrie of Dickinson State, a win by decision over Trotter of Avila (3-1), and a medical forfeit victory over Hynes of Missouri Valley. Gabe's semifinal match would end in the favor of his opponent, Marcus James of Georgetown and his consolation semis would end similarly, with Davidson of Friends University winning by decision 0-1. Chesbro would put himself back in the win column in the 5^th place match with a win by medical forfeit over Giangregori of Dickinson State.

Devon Lolar (19-14) would earn 7 points for the Spires in the 285lb. weight-class with wins in his first three matches of the weekend. Lolar's first match would give him a bye, he would then go on to win by fall over Hennings of Dakota Wesleyan and by medical forfeit in the third round over Mattern of Hastings. The heavyweight's quarterfinal and consolation round 6 would be losses to Gonzalez of Missouri Valley by decision 0-6 and Mattson of Montana State by fall.

The Spire men's squad will be back in action on the road at KCAC foe Ottawa University on Thursday, February 5th at 6:00 p.m. in Ottawa, Kansas.