The No. 8 ranked Mercyhurst men’s wrestling team continued their winning streak with a 26-20 victory over the Ashland University Eagles during a great home match Thursday, Feb. 13.

Currently, the Lakers have a record of 6-0 in the PSAC conference and this victory gave the Lakers a 17-1 record over all. With 17 victories, the wrestling team has beaten itsprevious record of going 16-0 during their 2008-2009 season. With that record, they have also set a new record streak of consecutive wins with 11.

Helping the Lakers break these records at the Ashland match was Jeremy Landowski, ranked No. 8 in the country at 149 pounds, who won by a 5-1 decision against his opponent whose record was 25-4 before the match compared to Landowski’s 17-4.

“One of the ways we make each other better is taking the right attitudes into practice every day. Before practice all joke around and have a good time but once practice starts a switch goes off and we become very serious” Landowski said.

Another big contributor to the team is Dylan D’Urso who won by a technical fall 15-0 over his opponent at the Ashland match. D’Urso is now 17-0 in dual matches and 24-2 for the season.

“We’ve recovered really well since our loss in San Francisco and we are all wrestling great as a team” D’Urso said. Landowski added, “In the tough moments knowing your team is behind you can make you push through that tough moment.”

Mercyhurst is very strong with six ranked wrestlers but the entire team is playing a huge part in the success of the team this season. The Lakers have two wrestlers, D’Urso and Landowks, who are ranked nationally and seven wrestlers who are ranked in the PSAC. These wrestlers include Ryan Bohince, Kody Young, August Mizia, Francis Mizia, and Andrew Welton.

“The commitment that everyone has for the team is unbelievable. Even though wrestling is an individual sport, team success usually leads to individual success. Everyone knows if they put in the work to get better they will make the team better” Landowski said. “With the accomplishments we have had this year, it is a clear indication of the commitment brought by this team.”

The Lakers will travel to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Saturday March 1 to take on the mountain cats at their last match of the regular season. UPJ is ranked second in the PSAC and has a record of 12-1.

“The work isn’t finished yet though and we have to finish strong against UPJ and then perform well at regionals. If we wrestle to our ability good things will happen,” D’Urso said.