GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Mountaineer Men's Wrestling wrapped up their jam packed weekend with a seventh place finish at the Battle of the Rockies Open on Saturday less than 24 hours after posting a 3-0 dual record the previous day. The Mountaineers had six total placewinners as the team and scored 77 points.

Of the six placewinners for Eastern, two were runner-up finishes. Although EOU competed with a limited squad of just seven grapplers, the team still finished inside the top-five. Earning a second place finish for the Mountaineers were John Bittinger (165 lbs.) and Noel Orozco (285 lbs.).

Also earning a podium finish was Adrian Guevara at 125 pounds (4th), Luciano Fasulo at 125 pounds (3rd), Chad Muenzer at 141 pounds (4th), and Monte Zufelt at 141 pounds (5th). The group all battled for a podium finish less than a day after helping the Mountaineers go undefeated at the Battle of the Rockies Duals.

For Bittinger, he wrestled in just two matches to place in the top two. He earned a bye in the quarterfinal and punched his ticket to the finals in style. He pinned his opponent in 3:35 to advance to the championship. In the finals, Bittinger battled all three periods but came up short in an 11-4 decision.

Orozco finished off his weekend going 3-1. After receiving a bye in the first round, he posted a 5-3 decision to get to the quarterfinals. He kept things going with a 7-1 decision to move to 2-0 and followed it up with a 3-2 decision in the semifinals to get to the finals. In the final match, Orozco came up short, suffering a 3-2 decision loss to finish as the runner-up.

At 125 pounds, Fasulo was 3-1 while Guevara was an even 2-2. For Fasulo he scored two of his three wins by decision and had a fall. Guevara's two wins both came via a decision. Fasulo and Guevara ultimately squared off in the third place match with Fasulo walking away the victor by way of an 8-2 decision.

At 141 pounds, Muenzer was 3-2 and made it to the third place match. On the flip side, Zufelt was also 3-2 and made it to the fifth place match. Muenzer impressed in his efforts scoring two wins by way of pin and the third was a tch fall. Zufelt's wins were close, but he scored a pair of decisions and had one win via a disqualification to place in the top-five.

The Mountaineers will be back in action Dec. 17 and 19 as they will battle in two duals and one tournament in Reno, Nevada. On Dec. 17, Eastern will face two conference foes in Southern Oregon and Montana State-Northern. After a day's rest, EOU will return to the mats on Dec. 19 for the prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions. 

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