ST. LOUIS -- [RESULTS] Men's Wrestling took third in the second-ever American Midwest Conference (AMC) Tournament Saturday in Walnut Ridge, Ark.
The host Williams Baptist Eagles won the tournament for the second consecutive year. They finished with 185 points as a team ahead of second-place Lindenwood-Belleville (127) and Missouri Baptist (100 points).
The Spartans posted their second straight Top 3 finish in the conference. This season they finished ahead of Lyon, Central Baptist and Hannibal-LaGrange. In total, MBU had eight wrestlers place in the top six with two second-place finishers, two third-place, two fourth-place, one fifth-place and one sixth-place.
Bryce Bachowski took second place at 149. The freshman pinned his first two opponents from Lyon and Lindenwood-Belleville to go to the championship. In the title match, he fell to Patrick Grigsby of Williams Baptist by a 9-5 decision. Grigsby is ranked No. 15 nationally in the weight class.
Cory Flemming took second at 285. The sophomore won his first three matches before falling to No. 8 Demetrius Thomas of Williams Baptist by fall in 1:00. Flemming pinned his first opponent from Lyon in just 34 seconds and won his second match by major decision. His third win was a 9-5 decision over Devon Amburgy of the Eagles.
Elmer Francisco and Ryan Thomas also placed in the top three. Francisco bounced back from an opening loss at 165 to win three straight. He defeated teammates Larry Prade and Jake Mattson on his way to the third place match. There he won by a close 4-3 decision over Almondo Conner of Belleville.
Thomas also went 3-1 at the 174 class. He started by pinning his first opponent in 2:15 and then nearly pulled off an upset. Thomas took No. 13 Keion McVay to sudden death before falling in a heartbreaker. The junior bounced back with two straight wins including a pin of NAIA No. 11 Jeffrey Haley from Williams Baptist in the 3rd place match.
Michael Moncivais took fourth at 133 with a 2-2 record. Jeffrey Brock posted four wins at the heavyweight spot to take fourth as well. Jake Mattson took fifth at 155 with two wins and Jesse Imbierowicz took sixth place at 174.
Clayton Wegener was also named to the AMC All-Conference team at the conclusion of the tournament. The Spartans next compete at the Midwest NAIA Qualifier on February 18th.
