LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Ashton Eyler (Millersburg, Ohio/Claymont High (Iowa Central CC)) muscled his way to the 165-pound title, and the Lock Haven University men's wrestling team finished 5^th at today's (Jan. 7) David Lehman F&M Open at Franklin & Marshall College.
 
The open featured some top competition from around the landscape of college wrestling as wrestlers from Penn State, Iowa State, Virginia, Army and Navy made the trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
 
The Bald Eagles finished with 60 total team points in fifth place out of 29. Army-West Point brought home the team title behind one champion and three runners-up.
 
Going 6-0 on the day, Eyler blazed his way to the final at 165 on the back of a fall and two major decisions. In the final against Iowa State's Austin Kraisser, Eyler fell behind 2-0 on an early takedown, but managed an escape late in the period to cut the lead to 2-1. Early in the second period, the junior scored a smooth reversal and was able to ride out Kraisser to take a narrow 3-2 lead into the final period. Eyler made his mark in the final period securing two more takedowns and adding a riding time point to bring home the first-place finish, 8-3.
 
At 285, Isaac Reid (Saltsburg, Pa./Kiski) continued his strong start for the Bald Eagles and powered his way to a third-place finish. Reid got things going quickly and secured a first period fall and an early tech fall in his first two bouts of the day before securing the third-place finish by way of a 4-1 record.
 
Ben Barton (Louisville, Ky./Trinity (Campbell)) went 4-2 on the day and pushed his way to the fifth-place match. Barton secured an exciting sudden-victory win in the round of 16, but fell just short 6-5 in the fifth-place match against Nate Lukez of Army. Barton scored and escape with just seconds left in the final period, but ran out of time to secure one last takedown for the win.
 
The Road Ahead:
 
The Bald Eagles are back in action on Saturday, January 15^th when they travel to the Bloomsburg University Tri-Meet. LHU will square off against California Baptist at 1:00 p.m. and meet the hosts Bloomsburg at 5:00 p.m.