Despite graduating 7 seniors last year and returning no starters at the same weights from the 2008 season, the Generals improved their conference finish by one spot thanks to the trio of freshman starters; Ben Ersing, Sam Campbell, and David Dennis. W&L finished 7th of 8, beating Johns Hopkins.Ben Ersing led the way at the 2009 Centennial Conference tournament with a 3rd place finish, winning 3 of 4 matches by fall or default, scoring much needed bonus points along the way. Ersing pinned McDaniel College in the first round before losing in the semifinals, and then won by injury default over Muhlenberg College and pinning Gettysburg in 1:22 in the consolation finals. "Ben wrestled very well from his feet and had a fantastic day from the top position," noted Coach Franke. "We thought we could improve our team finish if some of the guys came prepared to wrestle hard for seven minutes, and Ben definitely did that."
Sam Campbell fought off a sluggish start,
losing a tough match to 2-time conference champion Billy Hall of Muhlenberg, whom he had beaten the previous weekend, to win in the wrestlebacks and reach the consolation semifinals. In a very tough 0-0 match, Campbell was on the receiving end of a very nasty, and illegal, slam. Campbell advanced to the consolation finals by Disqualification and due to injuries suffered from the slam was a medical forfeit in the finals, missing out on the rubber-match with Hall.David Dennis got off to a great start by defeating a very tough Merchant Marine wrestler to advance to the semifinals against the Centennial Conference's Outstanding Wrestler for the season and tournament, now 3-time Conference champ and 2008 All-American David Goldstein of Gettysburg. After dropping a tough match with Goldstein in what was his closest match of the day, Dennis rebounded with his team leading 8th pin of the season over Muhlenberg, before dropping a heartbreaker in the consolation finals to the #2 seed from Stevens, 10-8.
Senior Captains John Christopher and Rob Terrin had a shot at placing, but were unable to get into the finals, each dropping a very close match and finishing 1-2 on the day. Sophomore Keith Jaworski was the only other General to win a match, notching a major decision win over Johns Hopkins.
All in all we did some great things, some ok things, and some not so good things, and we were very, very close to finishing higher. We lost some close dual meets, and some even closer matches at the tournament, but we did finish better than last year, so we've got something to build on, and we are very excited about the direction this team is heading.
Now it's time for our guys to hit the weights and myself to hit the recruiting trail!
Next year's guys after offseason lifting!
More posts to come as spring-time in Lexington nears. Hope to see you on campus.
