Allen, Texas – While snow and ice was falling on the ground during spring break, the Wayne State College Wildcat wrestling team was competing for a national title.

“Overall we competed well as a team even though it wasn’t the end result we wanted we did our best. The competition there is tough considering it’s all the wrestling clubs from over the United States, so there are a lot of talented wrestlers,” said Captain Spencer Trout.

Senior Trout picked up two wins and one loss on Thursday to make it to Friday for his final loss, which ended his collegiate season at 18 – 12 in the 184 -pound weight class. Following Trout and ending their season strong going 2-2 as well were sophomore Ethan Fitzler 157–pound weight class and Alejandro Martinez an impressive Freshman who went 2-2 at Nationals in the 125–pound weight class.

“This season I was really impressed with how our freshman Alejandro Martinez came in and wrestled for his first collegiate year,” Trout said. “A couple of our sophomores who really stepped up this year was Hunter Wiess and Gerald Kenkel. They both competed very well and I think next year they will come back strong. The most improved this year by far was Kenkel, even though he had a tough time at nationals he was voted for as the most outstanding wrestler at the conference tournament. I couldn’t be more proud of my team and how far we have come this year,” Trout said.

Following them were their teammates who went 1-2. They were Levi Honeywell and Matthew Reeves at 141–pound weight class.

Going 0-2 at Nationals was Hunter Weiss in the 149–pound weight class, Gerald Kenkel in the 174-pound weight class, and Joseph Giesselmann in the 285–pound weight class.

Going 2-2 is 11th-ranked Alejandro Martinez who won by decision (2-0) over No. 22 Patrick Lehman of Alfred State. Then he lost by fall (1:28) to No. 6 Melvin Rubio of Queens who finished third in the tournament, then won by fall (4:40) over Cody Armstrong of Dixie State before being eliminated by decision (7-1) by No. 14 Chris Vega of Springfield Tech.

Going 1-2, unranked Levi Honeywell won by fall (4:53) over Stan Cruz of Grays Harbor, then lost by fall (4:02) to No. 3 Deviniare Hayes of Queens who finished first place and then lost his last match by fall (8:08) to No. 4 Michael Harris of Emmanuel.

Going 1-2, unranked Matthew Reeves won his first match by major decision (10-1) over Ryo Onoue of Texas, then lost his last to by fall (1:57) to No. 1 Tyler Sage of Florida who finished second place and by decision (14-7) to Anthony Devanny of UConn.

Going 0-2 20th ranked Hunter Weiss lost his first match by decision (6-4) to No. 13 Mitchel Egbert of Utah State before receiving a bye and losing his last match by technical fall (21-5) to No. 4 Chad Cantrell of Liberty.

Going 2-2, unranked Ethan Fitzler lost his first match by major decision (15-4) to Cody Smith of East Carolina, then won his second and third match by technical fall (17-2) over Jacob Cincotta of UMass, and by decision (7-5) over No. 23 Jeff Ptak of Texas Tech. Before losing his last match by fall (2:41) to No. 13 Braxton Freeman of Akron.

Going 0-2, 12th ranked Gerald Kenkel lost his first match by fall (3:08) to No. 21 Dan Henson of Apprentice and lost his last match by decision (13-11) to Stephen Illicete of Farmingdale State.

Going 2-2, unranked Spencer Trout won his first match by fall (4:38) over Juresti of Texas State, then lost the second match by major decision (13-5) to No. 3 Jerron Thomas of Mott CC who finished in second place. Trout received a bye, and won his third match by fall (4:24) over No. 19 James Stubbs of BYU and lost his final match by decision (9-2) to No. 9 Rusty Wilson of Maine.

Going 0-0, unranked Joseph Giesselmann lost by fall (2:34) to No. 3 Donavan Lozada who finished third place of Springfield Tech and lost his final match by fall (2:43) to No. 19 Kaelen Yanak of Montana Tech.