The Mercyhurst wrestling team is tackling its season just how they left off last season. The Lakers are currently 10-1 in duals and 1-0 in the PSAC Conference.

The team had its best finish ever at the NWCA National Duals held in Fort Wayne, Ind., the weekend of Jan. 9 and 10. The Lakers went 4-1 there and remained ranked fifth in the country.

After losing their first match against Upper Iowa, the Lakers came back strong and beat their next four opponents: Newberry College (32-6), Ouachita Baptist University (21-15), Lindenwood University (31-10) and McKendree University (23-15).

Not only was this a big win for the team, it was also Head Coach Mike Wehler’s 100th win in his eighth season coaching with the Lakers.

Along the 100th win, a campaign has been launched to update and expand the wrestling facility. The campaign’s goal is to get 100 separate donors to contribute $100.

“We will get a lot of new equipment through this campaign to clean up the wrestling room so we can have better workouts. Sometimes the gym is packed so it’ll be nice to have our own treadmills,” redshirt sophomore Francis Mizia said.

This weekend the Lakers traveled to Philippi, W.Va., to take on Alderson Broaddus University. The Lakers had no trouble as they shut them out, 52-0.

“We all wrestled really hard and kept getting bonus points in every match. The lowest we got was a major decision,” Francis Mizia said.

Major decisions were won by Ryan Bohince at 133 (8-0), Jeremy Landowski at 149 (13-2) and August Mizia at 174 (8-0).

The Lakers also had five pins by Willie Bohince (125), Kody Young (141), Angelo Bortoluzzi (165), Dakote DesLauriers (184) and Andrew Welton (285).

Two technical falls were completed by Francis Mizia (157) with the score 16-0 and Brian Beattie (197) with the score 17-1.

“We have better pace than anybody on the mat. We just have to keep working hard in the wrestling room and on the mat and we will keep getting results we are getting,” Francis Mizia said.

The Lakers next match will be at home on Friday, Jan. 23 against East Stroudsburg for their first home dual meet.