Kansas City, Mo.—Spire men's wrestling found themselves successful yet again yesterday evening Thursday, Dec. 4^th in USM's first KCAC dual of the season at Avila University in the Eagle's first home campaign. The #16 ranked Spires came out on top over Avila with a final score of 32-19.

The competition started with AU getting the better of Courtney Anderson in the 125lb-weight class, however the Spires would bounce back with Roman De La Cruz (133lb-weight class) with a win by major decision (15-4). The Eagles would take the next round in the 141lb-weight class over Jacob Navarro, however USM would go on quite a run after this, with Spire wrestlers Benjamin Smith (149lb-weight class), Josey Jernegan (157lb-weight class), Graham Kilpper (165lb-weight class), and Michael Ager (174lb-weight class) all earning big wins over the Avila athletes with Smith, Jernegan, and Kilpper impressively winning by fall.

Gabe Chesbro would give the Spires another six points with a dominate pin over Avila's Trotter, boosting the USM lead. Two of the last three matches of the evening would go to the Eagles with Orinn Hubbard and Devin Lolar falling to Sharp and Howes, respectively. These two late victories would not be enough to overcome the hole they found themselves in after the Spires claimed five matches in a row early on, concluding the night with the good guys back in the win column.
 
With a short 24-hour rest, the Spire men will be back on the road to join the Spire women's wrestling team in Crete, Nebraska to battle in the Conner/Oppenheim Doane University Open tomorrow, Saturday, December 6^th with matches slated to begin at 9:00 a.m. To follow along with the action Saturday promises to bring, please visit Conner Oppenheim Open.
 
To view in-depth results from last night's dual against the Eagles, please click here!