Slatton leads Wrestling with second place finish

ELMHURST, Ill. – Concordia Wisconsin placed four wrestlers in the top-five at a difficult Elmhurst Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Mitchell Slatton led the team with a second place finish at 184 pounds.

THE BASICS
Location: R.A. Faganel Hall (Elmhurst, Ill.)
Falcon Individual Placers: Mitchell Slatton (184 pounds) second place, Matthew Saldana (125 pounds) fifth place, Ramiro Vasquez (133 pounds) fifth place, Mac Braylock (197 pounds) fifth place

QUOTING HEAD COACH KEVIN KOCH
"We wrestled well to get four placers in our first competition back after the winter break. It was a good performance by Mitch with his first matches at 184 pounds this season."

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Falcons had been off from competition for nearly a month before returning to the mat at a difficult tournament on the road. They had four wrestler place and were led by senior Mitchell Slatton (Granger, Ind.).
- Slatton began his day with a pin in 1:49 over Ryan Snyder (MSOE) before winning a close 3-2 decision against Logan Millzer (Triton). The senior then defeated top-seeded Griffin Meeker (Millikin) by decision, 5-3, before losing by technical fall 22-7 against Mark Miller (Elmhurst) in the title bout.
- Sophomore Matthew Saldana (Long Beach, Calif.) cruised past Ryan Boncamper (Chicago) with a 12-3 major decision win to advance, but then dropped a 7-1 decision to top-seeded Britches Sikula (Harper). He lost his next contest by technical fall, 19-4, before earning a forfeit win to take fifth place at 125 pounds.
- Sophomore Ramiro Vasquez (Yuma, Ariz.) began his day with his best performance, a 15-0 technical fall win over Brandan Kammer (Adrian). He lost his next match by decision, 11-9, to Tyler Futris (Haper) before coming back and winning back-to-back matches by decision. Vasquez defeated Dominic Paterra (Adrian) by a 6-2 score prior to defeating Santos Alvarez (Henry Ford) by a 10-6 score. The 133-pounder lost his next match before winning the fifth-place competition by medical forfeit.
- Senior Mac Braylock (Marietta, Ga.) had his best performance of the season, winning two-straight matches to begin his day. He defeated Donald Moses (Adrian) by an 8-6 decision and then won an 11-8 decision over Gabriel Rangel (Lincoln). Braylock lost his next two matches prior to winning by medical forfeit to finish in fifth place.
- Junior Eric Martinson (Milwaukee, Wis.) won a pair of matches today by fall. He pinned Alex Moran (MSOE) in 2:30 and downed Gunnar Hjorth (Elmhurst) in 4:15.
- Freshman Merrick O'Donnell (Huntington Beach, Calif.) also won a pair of bouts by fall. He pinned Garrett Mulkerin (MSOE) in 3:59 before sticking Scott Anderson (Harper) in 1:53.

BEYOND THE RESULTS
- It was the second time this season Slatton has finished second in a tournament.

NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE
- Concordia Wisconsin travels to the Willie Myers Open, hosted by UW-Whitewater, on Saturday, January 20.