The Kent State wrestling team finished in ninth place in the Mid-American Conference tournament over the weekend, and six wrestlers placed overall. 

Graduate student Jake Ferri and sophomore Enrique Munguia led the way for the Flashes on Friday and Saturday as the team’s top finishers – both finished in second place in their brackets. Ferri will compete in the NCAA tournament March 16. 

“Our team wrestled about as well as we could wrestle,” coach Jim Andrassy said. “We wrestled better in quite a few situations so we are all pretty happy with how we did. They’re a great group of guys – they did about as well as they could do.”

The team scored 68 total points in the tournament. Ferri, Munguia and Louis Newell accounted for 44 of the team’s points. 

At last year’s championship, the team came in seventh place with 71.5 points. 

“If a few more things went right, we could have finished more towards the middle,” coach Jim Andrassy said. “If you place a notch higher, you get four or five more points, and there’s a few places I think we could do a little bit better.”

Big finishers

Graduate student Jake Ferri came into the tournament as the MAC’s second-seeded 125-pounder and received a bye in the opening round as a result.

Ferri then won his next two matches. In the quarterfinal match, Ferri defeated Oscar Sanchez of Ohio University with a 4-2 decision. 

Ferri moved on to the conference finals after defeating Clarion’s Joey Fischer by a 5-3 decision in the semifinal match.

There, he was shut out in an 8-0 major decision by the MAC’S top-seeded 125-pound wrestler Anthony Noto of Lock Haven University.

“Everything fell into place,“ Andrassy said. “Ultimately, I hoped he could have won the conference, but he wrestled about as hard as he could have wrestled, and  as good as he could have wrestled.”

With Ferri’s loss and Blake West of Northern Illinois’s victory in the third place match, a wrestle-off was needed to determine the final auto-bid to the National Championship tournament.

The winner of the “true second place” match would go on to play in the national tournament.

Ferri defeated West in a 6-5 decision to qualify for the national tournament.

“His two goals are to win the conference tournament and to qualify for the national tournament,” Andrassy said. “There are a lot of people that do not want to wrestle Jake Ferri.”

Ferri, who won his 100th career match against Cleveland State Feb. 9, has a 20-7 record in his final season with more games to go. His performance gave Kent State 15 points.

In his redshirt junior season, Ferri had a 14-4 record. He also finished third in the MAC tournament and was a national qualifier that same season. There, Ferri went 1-2 in the tournament.

Last season, Ferri won the most games in a season in his career, posting a record of 26-9. He was not a national qualifier that season, but he was the third-place finisher in the MAC tournament that season.

“He’s done really well and he’s come a long way, but his last three years have been really good,” coach Jim Andrassy said following Ferri’s 100th career win Feb. 9 against Cleveland State. “He’s a fighter and a good kid that means a lot to this program and he means a lot to me as a person, and I’m happy that he got 100 wins.”

This season, Ferri won seven of his first 10 games of the season in invitationals. He also won six of his first eight dual matches this season.

“He is the epitome of consistency, work ethic, lifestyle and he’s coachable,” Andrassy said following Ferri’s sixth dual victory of the season in a loss to SIUE Jan. 27. “There was nothing fun about what he had to endure the first two years, but he continued to come back and continue to work hard and he’s gotten better. Now he’s the guy that we need for these young guys.”

Sophomore Enrique Munguia, who wrestled in the 165-pound bracket, was Kent State’s other top finisher. Munguia received an opening-round bye. In the next round, Munguia defeated Clarion’s Cameron Pine in a 5-4 decision to move to the semifinals.

Munguia defeated Lock Haven’s Avery Bassett in an 11-5 decision and went on to wrestle the top-seeded Izzak Olejnik from Northern Illinois.

Olejnik won the match, defeating Munguia in a 7-2 decision, and took second place in the tournament.

“Enrique did way above what he was seeded,” Andrassy said. “He was clearly the second-best guy in the bracket at the beginning of the year, and he was clearly the best guy this weekend. It was not even close the way he dominated until he got to the finals.”

He gave Kent State 15 points and has a 22-11 record this season.

Before the season’s duals started, Munguia had a 17-3 record — which was more wins than all of the previous season.

Munguia went to win only two of his first seven dual matches of the season, including a loss to SIUE, where Andrassy said that the way he wrestled that day was “inexcusable.”

His wins came against Ohio State Dec. 11, and Campbell University Jan. 13.

He missed the dual against Clarion on Jan. 29 with an undisclosed injury but returned in the dual against OU, where he lost in an 18-1 technical fall.

Andrassy became aware that Munguia was potentially in “a rut” following the loss to OU.

“We have to figure out what happened in the middle of the year to fix it because if he wrestled better in the middle of the year, he’s going to the national tournament for sure,” Andrassy said. “At one point he was ranked No. 14, but because he lost so many matches that he should not have, we have to figure out what happened.”

Munguia’s dual losses continued against Central Michigan Feb. 5, where he was pinned in a loss. 

Following that loss, Andrassy said he “did not know what was going on” with Munguia. 

Munguia won his last dual of the season with a fall in the team’s only victory of the season. He followed that up with a second-place finish in the MAC tournament.

“His potential is great because he continues to improve from last year,” Andrassy said.

The team will find out if Munguia, who is in the top-33 in RPI’s rankings, qualifies for the NCAA Championships Wednesday. The tournament will run March 16-18. 

Tournament results

Redshirt junior Louis Newell wrestled the top-seeded Gable Strickland of Lock Haven in the first round of the 133-pounder bracket. He lost on a 7-6 decision and moved to the consolation bracket.

“It was the number-one seed’s toughest match if you look at the scores going through his bracket, so he was a barnburner,” Andrassy said. “I wish they could have wrestled in the finals because Louis Newell is the second best guy in the bracket.”

Newell won every match after his opening round.

He defeated Edinboro’s Cameron Soda in a 5-0 shutout decision in the following match.

His next match lasted 36 seconds, as Newell defeated Buffalo’s Tommy Maddox on a fall to move to the third round. He won his next two matches and moved to the third place match, where he defeated Cleveland State’s Jake Manley in a 7-6 decision.

“We are really proud of what he was able to accomplish,” Andrassy said. “He’s really proud of what he’s able to accomplish and there is not any regret in how he did.”

Newell ended his season with an 11-12 record, and gave KSU 14 points in the tournament.

In sophomore Mason Lynch’s first match in the 141-pounder bracket, he lost to Rider University’s McKenzie Bell, the top seed in his bracket, in an 8-0 major decision. Lynch moved to the first round of the consolation bracket but lost to Central Michigan’s Jimmy Nugent by a fall four minutes and 52 seconds into the match.

Lynch’s overall season record is 3-10. He gave the team zero points for his matches.

Graduate student Kody Komara, who wrestled in the 149-pounder bracket, placed for KSU.

Komara won by an injury default over Douglas Terry of Cleveland State in the first match of the bracket. The match lasted two minutes and 40 seconds.

Komara then lost to Edinboro’s Ryan Burgos in the quarterfinal match by a 3-2 decision. With the loss, Komara would wrestle his next matches in the consolation bracket.

He beat his first opponent, Cade Balestrini of Bloomsburg, in an 8-3 decision.

Rider University’s Quinn Kinner defeated Komara in the next match with a 4-0 shutout decision. This sent Komara to play in the seventh place match, where Komara defeated Clarion’s Kyle Schickel by a medical forfeit. With the win, Komara took seventh place in the bracket.

“Kody Kamara, a two-time national qualifier, probably over-achieved to make it to the national tournament the last few years, and we all assumed he would figure out a way to overachieve again this year,” Andrassy said. “That didn’t happen this year, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. It wasn’t a lack of effort, or a lack of discipline, it was just that the guys that he lost to were better than him. That’s why he’s not going to the national tournament.”

Komara’s overall season record following the tournament is 20-13. He gave Kent State 9.5 points with the seventh place finish.

Freshman Keegan Knapp wrestled in the 157-pounder bracket and defeated Bloomsburg’s John Reho in a 12-3 major decision in his first match.

Knapp then lost to Central Michigan’s Corbyn Munson, the top ranked 157-pounder in the bracket, in a 8-5 decision. Knapp lost his match in the consolation bracket to Trevor Elfvin of Clarion on a 5-1 decision, ending his tournament.

“Keegan did not place, but they were there for the first time and they learned a lot wrestling in this tournament,” Andrassy said. “You have to see it up front. Anytime you send freshmen in these tournaments, you have to expect some learning curve there and they learned a lot better.”

His first-round victory gave Kent State two points. He ends his first season with an 11-10 overall record.

Senior Mason Karpinski, who wrestled in the 174-pounder bracket, lost to George Mason’s Logan Messer in a 10-2 major decision in the first round.

In the first round of the consolation bracket, Karpinski lost to JR Reed of Cleveland State by a fall. He lasted four minutes and 47 seconds.

Karpinski has an overall record of 2-9 following the tournament. He gave Kent State zero points.

Redshirt senior Tyler Bates lost the first-round match of the 184-pounder bracket to George Mason’s Malachi DuVall in a 15-1 major decision. Bates received a bye for the first round of the consolation bracket but lost to Matt Zuber of Northern Illinois by a 4-2 decision.

Bates finished his season with a 3-18 overall record. The team received zero points from Bates.

Freshman Blake Schaffer received a bye in the first round of the 197-pounder bracket but lost to Clarion’s Tyler Bagoly by a 4-0 shutout decision in the quarterfinal match.

Schaffer then defeated Tanner Culver of Bloomsburg in the consolation bracket. He won on a fall – the match lasted one minute and 37 seconds.

Cleveland State’s Anthony Perrine defeated Schaffer in the consolation bracket’s third-round match on a 12-7 decision. His next match would be the seventh-place match.

In the seventh-place match, Schaffer lost to Central Michigan’s Cameron Wood in an 8-7 decision. Despite the loss, Schaffer took eighth place and gave KSU 5.5 points.

Schaffer ended the season with a 16-22 overall record. He has the most wins for freshmen on the team.

Redshirt senior Jacob Cover lost the first match of the heavyweight bracket to Bloomsburg’s Shane Noonan in a 6-3 decision. He received a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket and then defeated Donovan Sprouse of George Mason in a 2-0 shutout decision to move to the third round.

There, Cover lost to Central Michigan’s Bryan Caves in a 4-1 decision. 

The loss sent Cover to the seventh-place match, where he defeated Noonan, the wrestler he lost to in the first round, by a forfeit.

Cover placed in seventh and gave Kent State seven points for his performance. He has an overall record of 12-16 this season.

“He is one of the smartest and most mature kids I have ever dealt with,” Andrassy said. “He wasn’t the best athlete, but there wasn’t a day he didn’t work his butt off.”

Bright future and looking ahead

Eight wrestlers will not return next season. The team will have 20 freshmen returning to the team.  

“We’re getting really young next year, which is exciting,” Andrassy said. “We have guys on our team that are capable. Can they continue to grow and get better? We do have a lot of really good guys on our team that we’re looking forward to in the future.”

The four underclassmen who competed in the tournament, Munguia, Knapp, Lynch and Schaffer, had a combined record of 5-8 in the tournament and accounted for 19.5 of the team’s 68 points.

“It’s gonna take us some time but I would think that in two or three years we’re gonna have a really good program and we’re going to contend for a MAC championship,” Andrassy said. “Now we have all the pieces there, and we just have to keep them together to finish the product. We’re two years away from a really, really good product.”

The national tournament will take place from March 16-18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Ferri will represent Kent State in the 125-pounder bracket, and a decision will be made about Munguia’s qualification on Wednesday.

“We worked as hard as we could and our guys never quit, they never stopped, they never complained,” Andrassy said. “They just did what we asked them to do, and they did it to the best of their ability. We don’t have horses right now for the race that we’re trying to run. We have some people that are young in our program, and hopefully we can get them to the point where we can contend for a MAC championship because that’s always our goal.”

John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].