Junior Michael Labry won the 133 pound title at the Eastern Michigan Open on Saturday Nov. 15. Sophomore Brandon O’Neil and Junior Kurt Schaefer also placed at the tournament.

“As a team, we had a good performance at the EMU Open,” said head coach Josh Hutchens.   

This is Hutchens’ second year as Ashland’s head coach.

“This is a tough tournament full of Division I teams,” Hutchens said. “We had several guys win matches against quality opponents throughout the tournament.”

Labry’s title was his first of the season and his second placement overall. 

He placed second at the Mercyhurst Open on Nov. 8, which was the team’s season opener.

Labry defeated multiple Division I wrestlers on his way to winning the title. 

He started by beating University of Michigan’s George Fisher in a 9-7 decision, then winning by a major decision against an unattached wrestler from Alma.

He won his next two matches against wrestlers from Ohio University and Michigan State to advance into the first place match. Larby would beat Carter Ballinger, who goes to Central Michigan, but was wrestling unattached, by a decision of 11-6.

“Labry has started off the season very strong. He has done well against tough Division I competition,” said Hutchens. “The most impressive thing about Michael right now is his focus. His mind is set at winning a national title, (even though) that is not until March.”

“It says a lot about his motivation that he is preparing and performing so well in November.” 

O’Neil went 4-1 to earn fifth place in the 197 pound weight class. 

O’Neil is bouncing back after an injury ended his season last year.

“I was very impressed with Brandon O’Neill last year before his season ended early due to injury. The EMU Open was his first competition in almost a year,” said Hutchens.

“That time away from the mat did not set him back much. I am very excited to watch his growth this year and I believe he has the potential to compete at the NCAA tournament.”

O’Neil’s first match was against James Russell, who was wrestling unattached from Michigan, and won by a decision of 10-4. 

He then lost his next match to Michigan’s Chris Heald in a close 3-4 decision.

O’Neil would then go on to win all three of his games in the consolation bracket to earn his fifth place ranking.

Those three victories were a major decision against an unattached wrestler from Clarion University, a 7-1 decision against Russell and a 9-8 decision verses Edinboro University’s Jake Hart in the fifth place match.

Schaefer ended with an eighth place finish in the 184 pound weight class. Schaefer won his first match against Mike Vollant, from Kent State, by a 10-6 decision. He would then lose to Central Michigan’s CJ Brucki by a major decision, 14-4.

Schaefer would then advance through the consolation with a 9-3 victory over Alma’s Durham Basso, although he was unattached, a 15-4 major decision against Clarion’s Nick Shawley and a medical forfeit Antonio Reynolds, from Ohio University.

That is where the good ended for Schaefer, as he then lost by a major decision to Tanner Lynde, from Purdue University, and medically forfeited the seventh place match.

“It is common to get minor injuries at this time of the season. When there is a chance that a wrestler can get a more significant injury from continuing to compete we remove him from the tournament,” explained Hutchens.

“(Schaefer) had already wrestled 6 matches in the day and 11 within a week. We had already seen enough competition from Kurt and decided to save him the pounding of one more match on that day.”

The team had a good showing at a tough tournament, but Hutchens still believes the team can be better. 

“There are still many areas where we can improve, but mostly we need to continue to build our conditioning.”

“Our goal is not just to be in the same shape as our competition, but to be better. We want this to be one of our advantages, especially in close matches.”

Ashland’s next competition is at home on Nov. 22 starting at 10 a.m. in the Simonson Open.