Millikin’s Wrestling team hosted its first big tournament this year, the Millikin Open. This is a tournament that has been held annually for years and takes place at Millikin.
This year, 17 teams participated, with over 300 competitors. The event lasted over 11 hours and featured nearly 600 matches, with 11 champions crowned in their respective weight classes.
Overall, the tournament saw many wrestlers go at it, with some competing in 6 matches on the day.
Millikin, however, found success in many divisions, taking home two 3rds and a 1st in this tournament.
Millikin’s 125-pound wrestler Christopher Arnold took 3rd in the 125B bracket after defeating Vontarius Hunter 13-10 in an overtime match thriller.
“It feels pretty good, I learned what I need to work on and could have gone to finals, but I got lazy,” Arnold said. “I think coach Birt has been teaching very good techniques, and I see that it works, so I tried it out there and everything worked.”
As well, we saw Millikin take 3rd in the 184 open tournament after a 16-9 Decision win for Sophomore Kody Marshner. However, he showed some disappointment in the 3rd, saying he should only be happy with first place.
“It doesn’t feel that good, I should have gotten first, I should have wrestled better in my semifinals match, but it’s stuff to work on,” Marshner said.
Millikin’s Freshman Mateo Casillas took 1st overall in his first-ever collegiate wrestling competition. He competed in the 197-pound open bracket and took down Cornell’s Jackson Brinker in a 7-6 nail-biting match.
“It feels good, my first ever college wrestling tournament, so it feels pretty good. Personally, it’s just another step,” Casillas said.
When competing, the players were able to choose from the many coaches Millikin had, and a common choice was assistant coach Dejon Glaster.
“It’s a great feeling, I’m just trying to connect with every guy that I can… I want to see everybody win,” Glaster said.
The team overall had a successful day, but the coaches want players to take this as a learning experience to help them move forward for the rest of the season.
“It went well, we have a lot of things to clean up, but it’s early in the season.. We still have to go back to the drawing board and get ready for everything,” Glaster said.
Millikin will prepare to take on rival Illinois Wesleyan at home this Saturday, November 15th, at 7:00 pm.
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