(ANGOLA, Ind.) – The Wilmington College wrestling team began their 2025-26 season today at the unscored Trine Invitational, hosted by Trine University.

Sophomore Thane McCoy led the way for Wilmington, winning the 165-pound bracket, and finishing 5-0 on the day. He started off with a win by fall against the University of Chicago's Cole Joseph in 6:11.

He followed it up with a 15-13 decision over Indiana Tech's Kristian Blake. He fell behind 6-0 early in the first period, before getting an escape, a takedown, and three nearfall points for a 7-6 lead after the first. Blake went back ahead in the second with a takedown before Thane used a reversal to send it to the third period all square at 9-9. McCoy chose to go bottom to start the final period and got a quick escape point for the 10-9 lead and used a takedown to go ahead 13-9. Blake tied it late with an escape and a takedown, but McCoy sealed it with an escape and the riding time point.

He won by tech. fall over Trine' s Manny Frederick in the quarterfinals, 21-5 before a close 13-11 decision in the semifinals over Albion College's Justin Gorman. McCoy led Gorman 11-3 before a furious comeback attempt was halted late by McCoy with a pair of escapes to seal the match.

McCoy wrestled the No. 10 NAIA wrestler in the finals, Indiana Tech's Vinnie Abbey. After two periods, Thane led 5-2 and used a huge final period takedown to seal the match and win it 8-4 for the 157-pound championship.

Making impressive Quakers debuts were freshmen Zander Ward and Braylon Vaughn. Ward lost his first match but rebounded well at 141 pounds with a 14-7 decision victory over Heidelberg University's Vince Barton and a 14-1 major decision blowout of Southwestern Michigan College's Nathan Honhart. Ward's day ended in the following match, finishing the day 2-2.

Just like Ward, Vaughn lost his first match before winning the next two at 149 pounds. He pinned Trine's Aaron Pennington in 47 seconds and Wisconsin Stevens-Point's Rhadel Kuck in 2:49 before losing his next match and finishing 2-2.

Also winning a match during the day for the Quakers was sophomore Gavyn Grim, who beat Heidelberg's Lee Woods at 125 pounds by decision at 17-14.

What's Up Next
The Quakers hit the mats in Hermann Court for the first time this season on Tuesday night at 7:00 P.M., where they battle the Otterbein University Cardinals in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) action.