Dalton, Ga.—The Wayne State Men’s Wrestling Club proved to be a force to be reckoned with this past weekend. The Wildcats finished 12^th out of 24 teams and also had two 5-1 individual finishes (Devon Rupp and Caleb Thomas).

Some of the teams competing included Central Florida, Grand Valley State, Liberty, Emmanuel College, Penn State-Dubois and another 18 teams to make up a pretty hard hitting line up for the Wildcats.

In the first round, the Cats met their toughest competition they would see all weekend. The University of Central Florida almost had a clean sweep on the Wildcats until Devon Rupp (149) won his match after a 4-3 final decision. Florida won the dual with a 50-3 victory.

In the second round against the University of Georgia, the Cats turned it around and won34-15. Having won 7 of the 10 matches, WSC had a pretty easy ride to victory.

Having trouble again in the third round, the Wildcats went down 31-12 against Penn State – Dubois. With a surprising loss from Devon Rupp, also his only of the weekend, WSC couldn’t find a way to work out the win.

“I really feel like I could have won. I just had a few minor mistakes that cost me the match,” Rupp said. “We competed really well, and some freshmen and sophomores are really stepping up. This is a good checkpoint for us since these are a lot of the teams we will see at nationals.”

Repeating the pattern, the Wildcats came out in the fourth round against Temple University and picked up the win with a 39-13 victory. This time the Cats won 8 out of the 11 matches.

With an injury in the fifth round and forfeit due to nobody wrestling at the 235 weight, it made it hard for WSC to keep it as close as they did with a 31-22 loss against Middle Tennessee State University. During his match, Matthew Reeves (141) separated his shoulder, ending his match short for an injury default. Even still, they kept it close, winning 5 of the 11 matches.

To finish off the weekend, the Wildcats had to face the University of South Florida, yet another tough team. Pretty similar to the last round, the Cats won 5 of the 11 matches, but fell short with a 29 -23 loss.

WSC got a chance to compete with a lot of teams they will be seeing again in conference and nationals.

“Over all we did all right. We did well with what we had and got a chance to see some really good competition.” Coach Aaron Schuett said.

The Wildcats won’t be back in action until Feb. 6, when they head to Iowa to compete in the Sioux City Open.

The Wrestling Club is also having a “Back the Cats on the Mats” fundraiser Feb 1–4. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11-1 and Tuesday 12-1, Coach Greg VanderWeil will be selling Godfathers Coupons in the Student Center that will put participants in the drawing for a chance to win a Super Bowl Party catered by Godfathers.

The winner will get 5 one-topping jumbo pizzas, 50 wings and 5 Jumbo Cheese Sticks. Tickets are $2 each, 3 for $5, or 6 for $10.