McLean County Times

The Illinois Wesleyan University men's wrestling team began the new year with dual matches against Carthage College and Milwaukee School of Engineering. The competitions took place on Monday evening, January 6, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Unfortunately for the Titans, forfeited matches contributed to their defeats as they lost 41-14 to Carthage and then 42-10 to MSOE.

With these results, Illinois Wesleyan's dual record has fallen to 0-4. In contrast, Carthage now holds a record of 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), while MSOE stands at 3-2 overall and 2-2 in league play.

In the match against Carthage, sophomore Austin Johnston from Normal, Illinois secured the first points for IWU after initially trailing by twelve points. Johnston achieved his first CCIW bout win with a technical fall victory over Carter Leiber. Freshman Ameer Alamawi from New Lenox, Illinois also contributed by securing a decision victory against Elijah Zepeda. Freshman Evan Carel from Hamilton, Illinois claimed IWU's only pin of the night during his bout with Joey Barnett.

Despite these individual successes, losses through technical falls and pins along with three forfeits led to Carthage claiming a comprehensive victory over Illinois Wesleyan.

Against MSOE, Alamawi was awarded a win by forfeit which added points for IWU but still left them trailing. Carel continued his strong performance with a major decision win over Javier Sevilla; however, two pins for MSOE combined with additional forfeits resulted in another loss for IWU.

Illinois Wesleyan will return to competition on Friday, January 10 when both men's and women's teams are scheduled to face Eureka College on the road.