The Wayne State College Wrestling Club took second at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Regional Duals Jan. 25 in Surprise, Arizona. The WSC club finished second behind the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). Greg VanderWeil, co-head coach of the WSC Wrestling Club, said this meet was “our best regular season team performance ever, and I was proud of them.” This club is in its twelfth year.

Several WSC wrestlers had good showings in the meet, including an undefeated grappler.

“Our best wrestler on the day was Tyson Cisneros, our 235-pounder,” VanderWeil said. “He went 6-0…five of them [wins] by pin, and I think he might’ve had a forfeit for his sixth win.”

Along with Cisneros going 6-0, four wrestlers only had one loss at the meet. “We had the other three seniors – Ethan Fitzler, Hunter Weiss and Tommy Nelson went 5-1 and freshman Ryan Zoucha was 5-1,” VanderWeil said.

Cisneros, one of four seniors, was surprised that he finished the day without a blemish on his record. “Honestly I didn’t expect to go 6-0,” Cisneros said. “I just went there to go wrestle and just do my thing and just wrestle how I like to wrestle. I just enjoy wrestling.”

Cisneros was pleased at the overall message that he received from his teammates and Coach VanderWeil.

“The best message I got was just after the last two duals that we had,” Cisneros said. “After I pinned the guy, I looked up [and] I see the team jumping and I see the coach clapping and smiling and laughing and jumping in the air all excited. That kind of sums it up for me.”

Zoucha, who wrestled at 133 pounds, focused more on how the team grew at this meet.

“I think there was a lot of team bonding that went on,” Zoucha said. “I know Greg, half the time he’s less focused on practice and more on how does the team get along together…I think the only way we could’ve done as well as we did was because we had that team aspect there, that ‘family feeling.”

One aspect of the meet that was prevalent with Zoucha and Cisneros was the forfeits. In wrestling, when one team does not have a wrestler to compete at that weight, they forfeit that match and the opponent automatically wins.

“The record says 5-1, but it was actually 2-1 on the day just because there was three forfeits in there, depending on who other teams brought and where they bumped [up or down in weight] to avoid you or not,” Zoucha said.

The WSC Wrestling Club is nearly done for the season with three meets left on their schedule. “We’ll go to Winona (Minnesota) which is another club arena, and then at the end of the month, I think on Leap Day, Feb. 29, we are at Richland Community College in Dallas, Texas for the Southwest Regional National Qualifiers,” VanderWeil said.