ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Missouri Baptist's Gabe Roman was on his game over the weekend at the Maryville University Brands Open. The senior was outstanding in the 125lb weight class and was the top performer for MBU in the tournament.
Roman made it all the way to the quarterfinals after breezing through the competition. He recorded two pins in his first two matches and won by major decision over Dale Boyd, an unattached wrestler from the University of Missouri, 12-3. As he headed into his quarterfinals match, Roman seemed to have enough momentum to carry him through to the finals. Cory Clark, however, stood in his way. Clark, an unattached wrestler from the University of Iowa had recorded a pin of his own earlier in the day and was too much for Roman, winning by an 8-3 decision.
Roman came back in the wrestle back. He beat unattached Missouri wrestler Zach Synon in a convincing 8-0 major decision. Earlier in the day, Synon had pinned MBU's Demarcus Gurlly to advance past the first round.
Roman's final test in a match for third place was against Derek Elmore, from the University of Northern Illinois. Roman handled that match with ease, finishing with a 9-1 victory by major decision to take home third place on the day.
Weston Keleher also had a nice day for the Spartans. The Moberly, Mo., native made it to the quarterfinals of the 184lb class before suffering two consecutive losses, one in the quarters to Johnny Eblen (Unattached, University of Missouri) by major decision 0-8 and was pinned in the fifth-place match by Dallas Smith of Ouachita Baptist.
The Spartans did get one other wrestler to place on the day. Julius Anglickas won his first match by pinning Andrew Lutterloh of King College, but lost his next in the quarterfinals to NAIA No. 2-ranked Brandon Gebhardt of Baker University 0-6.
As Anglickas won his first two matches of the wrestle back, one by pin over Rend Lake's Coltyn Pease, setting up a semifinal match for third place. Anglickas lost to Jared Torrence of Northern Illinois, but earned fifth place by beating Donnell Walker (Unattached, Maryville University) from injury.
The Spartans will head on the road once again this coming weekend to compete in the Indiana Tech Duals before wrapping-up its 2012 schedule at the Raven Duals on Dec. 15.
