Jeivan Ross Places Top-Seven at Lindenwood Open

The Calumet College Crimson Wave wrestling team took to the road once again this past weekend, this time traveling to St. Charles, Missouri, to wrestle in the Lindenwood Open at Lindenwood University. Wave wrestlers competed well, with freshman Jeivan Ross (Indianapolis, IN/Warren Central) placing seventh at 165 pounds in the Black Division (freshman/sophomore) bracket.

"This tournament is vastly different than our season opener two weekends ago," said Tom Molony, wrestling head coach. "You see some of the best talent in NCAA Division I, II, and III, the NAIA, NJCAA, and the NWCA, all coming together in one place. The Lindenwood Open is among the best tournaments in college wrestling each and every year."

Jeivan Ross continued to be the early season team leader with wins and pins by finishing 4-1 on the day, with four falls, finishing in seventh place in his bracket of 24 competitors.

Ross opened the tournament by losing by 22-5 technical fall to his opponent from Cloud County Community College.

"I think this was a real eye-opener for Jeivan Ross," Molony said. "He had an incredible weekend at Muskegon, but this tournament is such a different level of wrestling."

Ross then came back to earn four first-period falls, three of which took place in less than one minute. This moved Ross's season record to 8-1, with all eight wins coming by fall.

"The way he bounced back from his first college loss is what the coaching staff was looking at," said Matt Gille, assistant coach. "Ross didn't sulk. He didn't feel sorry for himself. He just came up with a game plan for the rest of his matched and executed it very well.

"That first kid Ross wrestled was better today than [him] in our guy's best positions," Gille continued. "We have a plan to make sure that he is much better in those positions in the very near future."

Competing unattached in the Black Division for the Crimson Wave at 125 pounds was freshman Carleton Perry "CP" (Indianapolis, IN/Warren Central). Perry won his opening bout 8-4 against a very tough wrestler from Cloud County Community College in Kansas. He then followed it up with a tough 18-2 loss to eventual third-place bracket finisher Joshua Sarpy from Division I Arkansas-Little Rock.

"Sarpy controlled that entire match, but Perry battled him, was in his face, and never relented the entire match," Molony opined. "A few little adjustments and Carleton is going to hit the ground running, so to speak, come the second semester. We coaches are very excited about his growth."

Perry would take to the mat for a third time winning 6-4 against his opponent from Labette Community College out of Kansas. CP would lose a very tight 5-3 decision to his opponent from Northeast Oklahoma A&M to finish his day 2-2. Perry is 6-3 on the season to date.

Sophomore Noah Boles (Minooka, IL/Minooka HS/Joliet JC) wrestled unattached and earned a first-period fall against his first opponent from the University of Missouri at 184 pounds in the freshman/sophomore group.

"Noah Boles is a very good wrestler with a deep bag of tricks," said Coach Gille. "The problem for Noah Boles is he is too small to be at 184 all season long. He has to be disciplined and get to a weight where he is stronger and more fit to go with guys his own size. Once he commits to that, then makes weight and sustains it, he won't struggle as much against "

Boles would go on to lose his next two matches by second-period fall each. He is 3-4 on the season.

Sophomores Ricardo Adame (Madera, CA/Madera South HS/Fresno CC) and David Madriz-Chavez (East Chicago, IN/East Chicago HS), and freshman D'Aris McCloud (Indianapolis, IN/Warren Central) all competed unattached on the day, with all three going 0-2 in the Black Division.

"The real test of our mettle would be how we respond in two weeks from now when we head to Kenosha, Wisconsin for the Jim Koch Open at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside," Molony stated. "That tournament is a lot closer to [the Lindenwood Tournament] in regards to competition. If we do the things we are supposed to do between now and then, we will see a significant improvement against equally tough opponents that first Saturday in December."

Photo credit: Jennifer Pierson