KENT, Ohio --- A whopping 11 Golden Eagles placed in the top-six of their respective brackets, including eight top-three finishes, to highlight the Clarion wrestling team's day at the Kent State Holiday Classic Open. The Golden Eagles won the team points race on Friday, putting up 117 team points to overtake second-place Nebraska, as well as MAC rivals Central Michigan, Kent State and Northern Illinois among others.
 
Below are brief capsules of each of the Golden Eagles' placewinners at the event:
 

• Scott Johnson continued his recent run of success, improving his recent win streak to four straight matches before losing to Central Michigan's Sean Spidle in the semifinals. He beat Buffalo's Troy Guerra by technical fall, marking his second straight win by tech, and he beat Penn State's Timothy Levine by 12-7 decision in the next round. After losing to Spidle by 6-1 decision in the semifinals round, he won the third place match against Virginia's Joseph Haynes, logging a third win by technical fall in two days.
• Gianni Silvestri took third place at 141 pounds, winning two straight matches to reach the semifinal round. He defeated Will Anderson by a 6-1 decision in the opening round and followed by beating Edinboro's Gaven Suica in a 5-4 decision. Cleveland State's Ethan Mitchell beat him by major decision in the semifinal round, and Silvestri won by medical forfeit over Edinboro's Jacob Brenneman in the third place match.
• Kyle Schickel went 3-1 en route to his third place finish at 149 pounds, reaching the semifinal round with three straight wins to kick off the day. He earned two quick wins by fall in the first two rounds, pinning Eli Carr and Edinboro's Jayden Dambrosio in the first period, and then beat Northern Illinois's Lucan O'Brien by 17-1 technical fall. His hot streak ran out in the semifinal round when he dropped a 9-4 decision to Cleveland State's Dylan Layton, but he bounced back with a 4-1 decision over Purdue's Wyatt Krejsa in the third place match.
• At 184 pounds, Patrick Cutchember enjoyed a 3-1 day to take third place. In the opening round of the bracket he beat Northern Illinois's Austin Stewart by a 19-0 technical fall, and then edged out Kent State's Holden Martin for a 5-4 decision. Central Michigan's Wyatt Ferguson won the semifinal match by 7-2 decision but Cutchember finished on a high note, beating Kent State's 184-pound starter Trent Thomas by 9-6 decision.
• Ethan Wiant ran his own win streak up to four straight matches, taking third place at 197 pounds. He beat Northern Illinois's Ian Smith in a close 5-1 decision in the first round, and then edged out Pitt-Johnstown's Brad Morrison for a 3-2 decision. Wiant took on Nebraska's starting 197-pounder Camden Mcdanel in the semifinal round, losing by technical fall, but bounced back by beating Kent State's Corey Boerio 6-4 in the third place match.
• Rounding out the third place finishers was Austin Chapman, who placed in the 285-pound bracket. He beat Edinboro's Aden Roe by 11-1 major decision but eventually lost by fall to Michigan starting heavyweight Josh Heindselman in the semifinals. Chapman's day wrapped with a win by fall over Central Michigan's Simaon Lato, with Chapman pinning him 1:05 into the second period.
• John Worthing took fourth place at 174 pounds, winning his first three matches of the day before being forced to drop out with injury. He beat Northern Illinois's Jake Evans by 7-6 decision to start things off and then majored Kent State's Christopher Sanchez, winning by a 9-0 score. He added an 8-3 win by decision over Edinboro's Joey Arnold before suffering an injury against Thomas West, prematurely ending his day.
• Wesley Barnes bounced back from a loss in his first match of the day to win three straight, putting him in sixth place at 165. His two losses of the day both came to the same wrestler, Northern Illinois's Tyler Schofield. In between he earned a 5-1 decision over Keegan Rothrock, an 11-3 major decision over Cleveland State's Connor Holm, and an 11-2 major decision over Virginia's Anwar Alli.

 
Of the total Golden Eagle wrestlers to place at the tournament, three wrestled unattached, including the two highest placers of the day:

• Joey Fischer took second place at 133 pounds, reaching the finals against Spidle before losing to him by a 3-0 decision. Before that point he was on fire, winning four straight matches. He started with a 7-1 decision over Northern Illinois's Calvin Werden before beating Purdue's Cooper Rider by 12-1 major decision. Fischer beat Edinboro's Parker Sentipal 6-3 in the quarterfinals and then Virginia's Josephy Haynes in the semifinals, winning the latter by 12-0 major decision.
• John Meyers won three straight matches in the heavyweight bracket, reaching the finals against Heindselman before the latter defeated him by fall. He tech falled West Virginia's Elijah Hunter by a 15-0 score and then beat Ryan Boersma by 4-1 decision. In the semifinal round he beat Lato by decision, outscoring him 12-7.
• Travis Clawson rounded out the placewinners for Clarion, wrestling unattached and placing fifth at 125 pounds. He dropped his first round match to Kent State's Nico Calello by major decision but advanced past Bellarmine's Micah Medina, and then beat Cleveland State's Parker Pikor by 17-0 technical fall. He earned another win in the next consolation match, beating West Virginia's Matthew Dolan by 6-0 decision, but Kent State's Tyeler Hagensen earned a fall over him in the last match of the day.