KSU on the beach!

Great concept to spend the new year away from the freezing temperatures and snow in Ohio. Kent State decided to attend the South Beach duals this year instead of the Midlands or the Southern Scuffle. The new dual concept had 12 teams ranging from top ranked NC State and up and coming teams like SIUE.

Kent State (8-4) capped off a 2-2 weekend at the South Beach Duals Saturday with a 31-3 victory over future Mid-American Conference member SIU-Edwardsville. The Golden Flashes split their day two dual meets beginning with a hard fought 27-7 loss to No. 12 Cornell inside the Deerfield Beach Sportsplex.

Junior Anthony Tutolo (133) went 2-0 on the day at 133 with a 6-2 victory against the Big Red and a 22-7 tech fall against SIUE. His win against the Cougars was the first of nine straight for the Flashes.

The string of nine wins appeared to be in jeopardy when redshirt freshman Dylan Barreiro (174) found himself trailing 6-0. Cutting the lead to 8-5 after the first period, Barreiro set the tone for an impressive 15-12 victory over Mason McDaniel.

In his first bout, Barreiro took on All-American Brandon Womack and led 2-1 after a period. Womack escaped in the second and rode out Barreiro for the entire third period as a riding time point made the difference in a 3-2 decision.

Redshirt freshman Nick Monico (141) also found himself on both sides of close matches. Monico surrendered a takedown in the final 30 seconds of his first match in a 4-3 setback. He hung on in his afternoon bout for a 2-1 victory.

Junior Kyle Conel (197) led his first match 6-3, before getting turned twice in the third period in a 13-6 loss. Conel finished strong against SIUE with a 5-3 decision.

Freshman Colin McCracken (184) led nationally-ranked Maxwell Dean 5-3 after two periods, but was blanked in third. McCracken finished the day strong with an 8-0 major decision over Jake Godinez.