Kent State University
Cleveland State
Burkhart Wins but CSU Spoils Finale
2/22/2024 9:31:00 PM | Wrestling
KENT- The Golden Flashes ended up on the wrong end of back-and-forth bouts as Cleveland State took a 27-6 decision in the regular season finale for Kent State.
The Flashes dropped three one-point decisions with all three of them involving a penalty point against the Kent State wrestler. Cleveland State won each of the first three matches of the evening before Matthew Ryan earned a 4-1 win over Conner Saylor. Ryan used a third-period take down to earn the victory.
AJ Burkhart earned the big win of the day for Kent State, grinding out a 6-4 win over Deandre Nassar, who had come in as the #4 wrestler in the conference. Burkart scored an early shot in the opening seconds of the match, earning the early takedown. The grad student survived a penalty point against him for grasping of hands and got a third-period reversal and riding time to clinch the win. Schaffer and Ben Smith were neck and neck throughout their match as two of the top wrestlers at 197. Smith landed a late shot and thwarted Schaffer's attempt at a late equalizer, turning it into a takedown of his own.
The full results of the match is below, the Flashes will turn their attention to the MAC Championships, hosted by Kent State on March 8th and 9th.
125 Ben Aranda (Cleveland State) over Adan Benavidez (Kent State) (Dec 8-2)
133 Nick Molchak (Cleveland State) over Pablo Castro (Kent State) (Dec 7-0)
141 Dylan Layton (Cleveland State) over Billy Meiszner (Kent State) (Dec 4-3)
149 Matthew Ryan (Kent State) over Connor Saylor (Cleveland State) (Dec 4-1)
157 Marcus Robinson (Cleveland State) over Keegan Knapp (Kent State) (Dec 11-7)
165 Tate Geiser (Cleveland State) over Aaron Ferguson (Kent State) (Dec 2-1)
174 AJ Burkhart (Kent State) over DeAndre Nassar (Cleveland State) (Dec 6-4)
184 Joey Lyons (Cleveland State) over Kyle Snider (Kent State) (Dec 2-1)
197 Benjamin Smith (Cleveland State) over Blake Schaffer (Kent State) (Dec 7-2)
285 Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) over Josh Boggan (Kent State) (Fall 2:23)
Team Score:
CSU 27 KSU 6
Players Mentioned
