Findlay wins GLIAC championship

ASHLAND, Ohio — No. 19 Findlay claimed the first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championship on Sunday.

The Roughnecks defeated Lake Erie 20-15, won 38-7 against Tiffin and then defeated No. T12 Ashland 21-9 to finish the event with a 3-0 record.

Michael Lybarger was named the GLIAC Wrestler of the Year while Shawn Nelson took home GLIAC Coach-of-the-Year honors.

Individually, Ben Sergent, Chris Andrews, Mason True, Lybarger, Adam Walters and Ashton Brown were each named first-team All-GLIAC while Nick Wiesjahn, Jeremy Espinoza and Andrew Tumlin were tabbed second-team all-conference.

Sergent, Lybarger, Walters and Brown each finished the event with perfect records.

Sergent, the eighth-ranked wrestler in the 125-pound weight class, started the meet with an 11-1 win against Lake Erie’s Austin Gillihan. After a forfeit win, Sergent claimed a 4-3 win against Ashland’s Brandon Davis to remain perfect at the meet.

Lybarger, the second-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds, won 5-0 against the Storm’s Zev Green, pinned Tiffin’s Jacob Cramer in 4:42 and concluded the event with a 3-1 win against the Eagles’ Bryson Hall. Lybarger, a national champion last year in the 165-pound class, now has 108 career wins, the sixth-best total all-time at UF.

Walters, ranked sixth at 184 pounds, took three matches Sunday as he won 6-2 against Lake Erie’s Josh Linden, 7-4 against Tiffin’s Kevin Christman and 7-5 vs. Kurt Schaefer of Ashland.

Brown won 9-4 against Lake Erie’s Mike Samijlenko, won by forfeit against Tiffin and was victorious by a score of 7-4 against Ashland’s Joe Brandt.