Kent State University
Southern Scuffle
McGuire Places Sixth, Lytle Seventh at Scuffle
1/2/2015 6:45:00 PM | Wrestling
Kent State's Mack McGuire and Mimmo Lytle each earned four victories Friday with strong day two performances at the 2015 Defense Soap and Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle. McGuire placed sixth and Lytle was seventh as the Golden Flashes finished 16th in the 31-team field at Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena.
McGuire, a junior, entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, but left with a sixth place. He strung together four consecutive victories Friday, never allowing more than two points in any of the wins. In his third victory of the day, McGuire topped No. 7 seed Mark Grey of Cornell, 6-2.
In his fifth place bout, McGuire fell to Kevin Devoy of Drexel, 4-2. Going 5-3 over two days, McGuire had dropped a 3-1 decision to Devoy on Thursday.
"He's a lot like Mack," Head Coach Jim Andrassy said of Devoy. "He's hard to score on. But Mack fought back hard today."
Despite being unseeded at heavyweight, Lytle reeled off three straight victories to start his day, including a 3-1 overtime victory over Chattanooga's Jared Johnson. It was Lytle's second win of the season over Johnson, who was No. 25 in the latest Wrestling Report rankings.
Lytle won his seventh place match 5-2 over Jacob Kettler (George Mason). Trailing 1-0 in the second period, Lytle converted a pivotal takedown and sealed the victory with another takedown in the final seconds of the match.
As a result of not earning one of the Top 12 seeds, Lytle had to take on top-seeded and eventual champion Austin Marsden of Oklahoma State in the round of 16 on Thursday. He finished 5-2 on the weekend.
"Mimmo wrestled really well this weekend," Andrassy said. "He took some nice shots and he got away when he needed to get away on bottom. He's getting better. He's been able to drop down to a single leg and lift it to finish his takedowns."
Senior Tyler Small also earned a pair of victories, finishing 4-2 and one win shy of placing in the top eight. Small downed Cornell's Ryan Dunphy 3-1 for his second sudden victory win of the tournament.
Juniors Del Vinas (125) and Cole Baxter each dropped their only match of the day, going 2-2 on the weekend.
Junior Ian Miller did not compete Friday, after suffering an arm injury Thursday.
Penn State won the team title with 165 points, while Missouri was second with 150 points.
Kent State returns to action Jan. 9-10 at the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va.
Players Mentioned
