Tutolo, Sparkman suffer defeats at nationals

Then a sophomore, Anthony Tutolo (left) warms up before the Thanksgiving Throwdown on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, at the M.A.C. Center. 

Samantha Ross

The Kent State wrestling team ended its streak of eight consecutive seasons with at least one All-American.

“It was a great learning experience for Casey (Sparkman) and Anthony (Tutolo),” coach Jim Andrassy said to Kent State Athletics about the duo’s performance. “It was their first time here and now they have two years to achieve their goals.”

Sparkman dropped his first match to Virginia Tech’s Sal Mastriani 20-5 Thursday morning.

He came back and beat Aaron Walker of The Citadel 5-3, which advanced Sparkman to the second day of the NCAA Championships.

Sparkman’s season ended Friday morning to Kyle Langenderfer of the University of Illinois 9-1. 

“It was a good win for (Sparkman),” Andrassy said to Kent State Athletics. “They split during the season, and I thought he handled him well. There was a lot of action.”

Anthony Tutolo lost his first match 12-3 to Cornell University’s Mark Grey. 

Tutolo’s season came to an end Thursday night against Chris Debien from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Debien won 3-2 in a tiebreaker period. 

Samantha Ross is the wrestling reporter, contact her at [email protected].