CLARION, Pa. -- The Golden Eagles wrestling team competed in their home tournament Sunday, finishing 8th overall as a team with 97 total points in an incredibly competitive field. The Golden Eagles also finished with two individual placers in Joey Fischer who placed 4th at 133 pounds, and Adrian Gacek who placed 5th at 184 pounds.

A long-awaited season-opening event that has attracted some of the best collegiate wrestlers and programs in the country. Fischer entered today as the 4th seed at 133 pounds and opened his day with a 6-1 decision victory over Buffalo's Troy Guerra. Fischer then followed up with a scoring clinic on the feet and on top against Edinboro's Ben Fuller winning via tech-fall 18-2 5:27. That included 3 takedowns and 7 total near fall points. Fischer made it three straight wins by beating Air Force's Robert Wright by a 6-0 decision to advance to the Semi-Finals. Fischer would fall by major decision to top-seed Tyler Ferrara from Cornell in the Semi-Final match.

Fischer then matched up against Isaiah Cortez from Spartan Combat RTC in the 3rd place match. Cortez would pick up an early takedown in the first period followed by a quick escape from Fischer. Cortez would choose bottom to start the second period and earn a quick escape to make it 4-1 where the score remained at the end of the period. Fischer chose bottom to start the third period but would fail to escape and would fall to Isaiah Cortez 4-1 and take 4th place at 133 pounds at the Clarion Open.

Gacek was the only other individual placer for the Golden Eagles. Gacek started out strong with a pair of bonus point victories in the round of 32 and round of 16 respectively. First beating Cornell's Carson Crace by way of a 12-3 major decision and then beating Daniel Gurovich of Pittsburgh wrestling unattached via tech-fall 21-5 in just 3:37 scoring all his points on 7 takedowns, an absurd display of offense. Gacek's only loss of the day would come in his next match against Buffalo's Marcus Petite in a hard-fought 2-1 loss. Gacek would bounce right back with a lightning-fast pin in 13 seconds over Kyle Gallo. Followed by another tech-fall victory 23-4 in 4:22 over Reese Spiro putting on another incredible performance on his feet recording 6 takedowns, 4 of which came in the first period.

Gacek then matched up against SIUE's Deron Pulliam in the 5th place match at 184 pounds. Gacek would put the first points of the match on the board with a last second takedown to take a 3-0 lead heading into the second period. Gacek would then choose bottom and get an escape to make it 4-0, which is where the score would remain at the end of the 2nd period. Pulliam chose bottom and got out with a quick escape from Gacek. Gacek would then hang on to his lead, only giving up another point due to stall calls at the end of the match to win a 4-2 decision over Pulliam to take 5th place at 184 pounds.

Here is a summary of how some of the other Golden Eagles performed on Sunday:

• At 125 pounds, Travis Clawson started off the day strong with a pinfall over Bellarmine's Micah Medina and a decision over Pittsburgh's Jaxson Rosselli wrestling unattached. Clawson would lose an incredibly close quarterfinals match against Air Force's Tucker Owens by a score of 17-16. Clawson would bounce back with a tech-fall victory over Brycen Arbogast of Edinboro before falling in the blood round to Anthony Knox of Spartan Combat RTC.
• Freshman Gabe Lilly showed out Sunday at 174 pounds, making it all the way to the blood round in his first collegiate action. Lilly bounced back from a first match loss to Benjamin Smith of UE by a 10-4 decision, by ripping off three straight decision victories over Patrick Cutchember, Jackson Koppers of Edinboro and Gunner Cramblett of Air Force. Lilly would be matched up with Benjamin Smith of UE again in the blood round where he would fall again this time by way of a 6-4 decision.
• Another freshman impressed on Sunday, this time at 157 pounds, was Cody Hamilton. Hamilton won his first two matches, starting with a 5-2 decision over Peyton Park followed by a fall over Bellarmine's Steve Villalobos in the first period. Hamilton would then lose his quarter-final matchup by way of tech-fall before bouncing back in the consolations with a 7-6 decision over SIUE's PJ Murphy. Hamilton's final match would be a very competitive 5-2 loss against Buffalo's Kaleb Burgess.
• John Altieri started his Clarion Open with a shutout major decision victory 11-0 over Charlie Foster. Altieri would then drop a very close second match to Rafael Knapp of Buffalo in an 11-8 decision loss. Altieri would bounce back with two straight decision victories by scores of 8-1 and 9-3 over Seton Hill's Collin Hearn and Gavin Cole. Altieri would lose one round short of the blood round in a back and forth 10-7 decision loss to Benjamin Smith.
• In his first action as a Golden Eagle after transferring over from Lock Haven, Connor Eck didn't disappoint. Eck started off the day strong with an opening match tech-fall victory by a score of 17-2 over Seton Hill's Yehia Abdelrahman. Eck would drop his next match via decision to Air Force's Bryce Shelton 9-4. Eck then grinded out a 3-1 victory over Evan Boblits before grabbing his first fall as a Golden Eagle over Bellarmine's Nathan Higley. Eck would run into an extremely tough competitor in Sam Ewing of Buffalo, losing via tech-fall in the consolation round of 8.