Wayland wrestling fans got to see a lineup that they're not accustomed to seeing Friday night, but they also got to see a dominating performance from the No. 19 Pioneer men's wrestling team. The Pioneers defeated the North Texas Club Team, 50-0, in the Pete and Nelda Laney Center.
"I was extremely pleased with our performance tonight, it really showed our depth," head coach
Aaron Meister said. "We wrestled a lot of our second string guys tonight. They've been working hard, they weigh in every time that the varsity guys do, so they were a little tired of weighing in just to weigh in. They wanted to weigh in to compete and that's exactly what they got to do today."
Jacob Campa, Demarco Speller,
Joseph Rios,
Andrew Cosper, and
Eric Lunsford all competed in their first dual of the season, and all five came out with wins.
Speller, Rios and Cosper picked up forfeit wins over North Texas, while
Jacob Campa recorded a pin six minutes and 15 seconds into the 125-match and Lunsford got a 15-2 win over William Sterling in the heavy weight division.
Lunsford, a 2008 graduate of Plainview High School received the loudest ovation of the night after picking up his first collegiate win after a year and a half with the Pioneers.
"I was extremely proud of Eric tonight," Meister said. "He wrestled last year in practice but didn't go to any competitions, so the goal for him this year was to get him into some competitions. He's wrestled in some opens this year but hasn't gotten a win yet, so tonight he earned his first victory of his college career in his very own home town.
"Eric's win shows how far we've come as a program. In our fifth year we took a kid that didn't even wrestle in high school, and sat out after graduating, and now he's in here practicing every day and earned his first win. That was great to see. He's getting stronger through matches and getting stronger every day and gaining more confidence as the year goes on."
Mich Napier opened the dual with a quick fall, pinning Dionte Carter one minute and 13 seconds into the 184-pound match. Carter went for a take down, but after a couple quick moves, Napier came out with a pin.
Nik Gates earned a 14-4 decision over Ryan McGahey in the 197s, then ended the dual with a pin in an exhibition match. Gates' pin followed back-to-back pins from
Kane Lovvorn (165) and
Drake Pilgrim (174). Pilgrim's fall ended the scoring Friday and gave Wayland a 50-0 win, its fourth-straight dual victory.
Meister singled out Lunsford after Friday's dual, but he said that he was proud of all his wrestlers, especially his younger, less experienced ones.
"Our younger guys have been getting a lot of competition in the opens and at weigh ins. The only thing they haven't been doing is competing after weighing in at our duals, but now they're doing that too.
"The more matches they get, the more experience they get, and the more experience they get, the more they know what they're doing."
The dual with the Mean Green comes on the eve of the Raider Duals, an annual event that Wayland hosts in Canyon. This year, the Pioneers host two familiar faces in Central Baptist and Lindenwood-Belleville, but a third team, Bacone, will also be at the dual. Wayland beat Central Baptist, 39-3, and Lindenwood, 36-9, earlier this season at the Warrior Duals in Muskogee, Okla.
"We're going to have the same people weigh in tomorrow that we did tonight, as well as our first string guys," Meister said. "We've already faced two of the teams that will be there so we'll put out a combination of our first and second string guys. The nice thing for us is that there's not much difference between our first and second string, and that just shows the depth that we have on our team."
The Raider Duals begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Canyon, Texas.
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Wayland Baptist 50, North Texas Club Team 0184:
Mich Napier, WBU, pinned Dionte Carter, 1:16; (WBU leads 6-0)
197:
Nik Gates, WBU, decision over Ryan McGahey, 14-4; (WBU leads 9-0)
Hwt:
Eric Lunsford, WBU, technical fall over William Sterling, 15-2 (WBU leads 14-0)
125:
Jacob Campa, WBU, pinned Kedrick Sousa, NT 6:15; (WBU leads 20-0)
133: Demarco Speller, WBU, forfeit win over, NT; (WBU leads 26-0)
141:
Joseph Rios, WBU, forfeit win over, NT; (WBU leads 32-0)
149:
Andrew Cosper, WBU, forfeit win over, NT; (WBU leads 38-0)
157: Double forfeit
165:
Kane Lovvorn, pinned Aston Harris, NT, 1:40; (WBU leads 44-0)
174:
Drake Pilgrim, pinned Luis Garcia, NT, 1:00; (WBU wins 50-0)
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