WEST LIBERTY, W.Va.— On January 31, the Men’s Wrestling team traveled to Glenville State University for the Mountain East Conference (MEC) championship and walked away with the team trophy.
Out of the 10 wrestlers that competed in the tournament, all 10 placed in the top three. With five MEC champions, two runner-ups, and three third place finishes, West Liberty as a team scored 150 points, with Glenville as the conference runner-ups with 137.5 points for the day. This comes after Glenville won the conference for the last two years with team MEC championships in 2024-2025.
Before 2024, West Liberty had claimed the title in 2023. Three years later, they reclaimed the title. The five MEC champs were all back-to-back weight classes with Tony Wood at 149 pounds, Nico Taddy at 157 pounds, Jordan Watters at 165, Carter Winegardner at 174 pounds and Olive Byerly at 184 pounds. The runner-ups were Logan Davis at 125 pounds and James Armstrong Jr. at 133 pounds. The third place winners were Khyvon Grace at 141 pounds, Gabe Blissenbach at 197 pounds and Parker Bentley at 285 pounds.
Two notable finals matches were Watters and Wood, both with pins in their finals matches, Watters also had the most team points for the day with 18.5, with Taddy close on his heels at 17.5 points even.
West Liberty, Fairmont State, and Glenville fans all were chanting and cheering their respective teams on from the bleachers during the matches. However, there were also multiple challenges to calls the referee made from both coaches and from the stands. Specifically, you could hear both teams yelling back and forth that the opposing wrestler was tired. Whenever either team would win a challenge or a call would go their way, you could hear Glenville and the West Liberty sidelines chanting “you can’t do that”.
Both teams managed to keep it civil on the sidelines, but the tensions were high with the MEC team title on the line. Fairmont State, who finished fourth as a team, could also be heard chanting throughout the gym whenever they had a wrestler up to compete.
With the infectious energy of the teams and the high tensions, it was a battle for the MEC title at every single weight class. The wrestling team’s most recent event was their Senior night on Thursday, February 12 against Ashland. The team ultimately would win the dual against the No. 10 ranked team in the country 29 – 21. This made the Men’s Wrestling team’s new record 10-6.
The next event for the Men’s Wrestling team will be Saturday, February 14 at Fairmont State, with their dual set to start at 2 p.m.
