Flames wrestlers experience fast start at Messiah Invitational paced by Murphy’s 197-pound title

Liberty University's men's wrestling team had a strong showing at its first tournament of the 2023-24 season, Saturday at the Messiah Invitational in Grantham, Pa., landing one champion, one second-place showing, one consolation champion, three fourth-place finishes, and one fifth and one sixth-place performance against predominantly NCAA Division III competition.

"Congratulations to our Liberty wrestling team for a solid performance at the annual Messiah Invitational," Flames Head Coach Jesse Castro said. "It was a good event that has served us well to establish a starting point to where we are early in the season and was an eye opener for our eight freshmen," out of the 24 wrestlers who made the trip.

Graduate captain Josiah Murphy, a two-time-defending NCWA Grand National champion, captured the crown at 197 pounds, defeating senior teammate Timothy Goddard (sixth) by medical forfeit in the semifinal round and freshman teammate Carder Miller (second) by injury default in the final. Murphy started the day with a 7-6 decision over Messiah's Micah Kunkle before winning his quarterfinal match by 24-9 technical fall over Johns Hopkins' Will Shiber. He earned 20.5 points for the Flames with the title, though team scores were not reported.

Miller had won the first match of his Flames career by fall in 5 minutes, 34 seconds over Ursinus (Pa.) College's Connor Fritsch before scoring a 15-0 tech fall over Messiah's Nathaniel Manarin and a 10-6 semifinal decision over Ursinus' Nils Updale.

Before his injury, Goddard won his first match by fall in 2:17 over Elizabethtown's Gavin Wagner and earned a 6-3 decision over Messiah's Sawyer Dereszynski.

Graduate 157-pound wrestler Reid Stewart, a graduate of nearby Brookville High School who started his career at Liberty before transferring to Presbyterian (S.C.) College, made a successful return in his first match in a Flames singlet since 2017, finishing third.

He started the day by scoring a 10-2 major decision over Johns Hopkins' Fritz Maurath before winning by 16-0 tech fall over Elizabethtown's Logan Ryan. In the quarterfinals, Stewart earned his first pin in 3:52 over Ursinus' Max Parnis before falling in the semifinals by a 5-2 sudden victory decision by McDaniel (Md.) College's Xavier Howard.

In the consolation semifinals, Stewart earned an 8-2 decision over Wheaton (Ill.) College's Taggart Kazmierczak before winning his third-place consolation final match by a 3-0 decision over McDaniel's Ryan Ohler.

At 133 pounds, freshman Jahleel Armstrong earned 12.5 team points with his fourth-place finish after wrestling back from being pinned by Elizabethtown's Braden Schuyler in the first round. Armstrong won by 19-3 tech fall over Ursinus' Alex Tenaglia, 8-4 decision over Ursinus' Jagger Clapsadle and a 3-2 count over Cornerstone (Mich.) University's Devan Johnson to reach the consolation semifinals. He won that match by 18-3 tech fall over Messiah's Tyler Ratledge before dropping a 2-1 decision to Wheaton's Anthony Zamora.

Jakob Brown, another freshman at 141 pounds, picked up 17.5 team points for his fourth-place performance in battling back from an 8-3 second-round loss to Cornerstone's Ian Boden.

He started his wrestleback run by winning by injury default over McDaniel's Colin Honaker before scoring back-to-back tech falls over Wheaton's Aidan Laird (15-0) and Cornerstone's Aidan Lupisella (19-0) and a fall in 2:04 over Ursinus' Andrew Schaen. That put Brown in the consolation semifinals where he scored a 9-0 major decision over Cornerstone's Ian Boden only to forfeit his third-place bout against Messiah's Malachi Harvey.

At 184 pounds, returning All-America sophomore Zach Kaminski finished fourth to pad Liberty's point total by 15 points. He got the ball rolling by pinning Ursinus' Jake Gross in 1:32 and Wheaton's Sean King in 2:09 before losing by 8-4 decision to McDaniel's Valentino Pryor in the championship semifinals. That sent him directly to the consolation semis, where he scored a 16-0 tech fall over McDaniel's Yoann Olympio before dropping a 6-5 decision to Messiah's Ryder Slayton in the third-place final.

Yet another freshman, Aiden Scheeringa, racked up 15.5 team points after his fifth-place finish at 125 pounds after rallying from a first-round fall at the hands of Wheaton's Brendan Johnston. He responded by pinning Ursinus' William Schwartz in 1:08 before pinning sophomore teammate Walker Chambers in 1:33 and Cornerstone's Jeffrey Bailey in 1:12. That sent Scheeringa to the consolation semifinals where he scored a 15-3 major decision over Johnston before decking McDaniel's Romeo Tsai just 1:36 into their consolation championship bout.

"For the most part our team battled well, fighting throughout their matches," Castro said. "We need positional work, mat awareness, and wrestling through in match scrambles. All in all, there were several bright spots throughout the day and I was very proud of our team effort."

Next Sunday, a select number of Liberty wrestlers will travel to Averett University in Danville, Va., to compete in the Cougar Open.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Flames wrestlers experience fast start at Messiah Invitational paced by Murphy’s 197-pound title

Players Mentioned

Jahleel Armstrong

Jakob Brown

Timothy Goddard

Carder Miller

Josiah Murphy

Aiden Scheeringa

Reid Stewart

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