Simmons, who has made the transition from 125 to 133 in the first two open meets this season, remained perfect at his new weight class with a thrilling upset over defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Matt Valenti of Penn. Simmons cruised to the finals, recording two technical falls and a pin in the first three rounds before defeating 18th-ranked T.J. Enright of Ohio State in the semifinals.
In the title bout, Simmons and Valenti went scoreless after one period. In the second, Valenti could not escape from Simmons, and the match remained scoreless. In the third, Simmons pulled a reverse on Valenti with about 30 seconds remaining, and held him the remainder of the match for the 2-0 victory. Simmons, who won the Eastern Michigan Open last week, improves to 9-0 for the year.
Gomez was equally as dominant in winning his second title of the young season. He won the first round by a technical fall in 2:30, then proceeded to win his next three matches by a combined score of 29-6. Gomez topped Obenson Black of Lock Haven, 5-1, in the championship match to move to 10-0 on the season.
Andy Simmons, ranked No. 1 at 141 pounds by Amateur Wrestling News, advanced to the finals before bowing to North Carolina's Vincent Ramirez in the final match due to an injury default. Simmons recorded a fall in his first match, then won the next two bouts by a combined score of 21-0. He beat Ryan Williams of Old Dominion, 6-5, in the semifinals.
Cozart -- the defending MSU Open champ at 165 pounds -- took fourth place after losing his first-round match. Cozart, seeded third, rattled off six straight victories in the consolation bracket before falling to Max Dean of Indiana in the third-place match, 3-2.
At 174 pounds, sophomore John Murphy went 5-2 to capture fourth place. Junior Joe Williams took sixth at 184. He advanced to the semifinals, but lost to Marc Bennett of Indiana, 8-3. Williams then took an injury default for his final two matches to place sixth.
The 17th-ranked Spartans open the dual meet season this Thursday, Nov. 16 against No. 2 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla.
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