MARIETTA, Ga. — The #2 Life University Running Eagles downed the 12th-ranked Lander Wrestling team as the Running Eagles stormed from behind to win four straight matchups to close the dual and take a 23-12 win Wednesday evening. 

Life U improved to 9-2 while NCAA DII Lander dropped to 10-4 with the loss. 

The Running Eagles started the match started in a hole, dropping an 11-2 major decision to give Lander the 4-0 lead after one.

Life U immediately responded with a major of their own at 133, as #3 Thaddeus Long cruised to 17-4 major decision over #4 Christian Davis. At 141 Lander took the lead right back with a late takedown, with a narrow 4-2 decision over Jordan Mitchell.

The Running Eagles then took their first lead of the contest with back-to-back wins at 149 and 157 to make it 10-7 in favor of Life U. #10 Pat Gould moved up a weight class for the dual earning a convincing 8-2 win while Fabian Padilla earned a hard-fought 4-1 decision with a final period takedown. 

The Life U lead was short-lived as #1 David Hunsberger earned a tech fall at 165 lbs for Lander.

Trailing 12-10, the Running Eagles closed the match with four straight wins from four ranked wrestlers, flipping the scoreline in their favor and securing the win.

Starting at 174 #8 Alexander Couto just missed out on bonus points with a strong 11-4 performance. #1 Jesse Perez continued his perfect run on the season, improving to 21-0 this year with another major, 14-3. At 197 lbs, #5 Khalil Abdushshakur earned another Life U win with a decision, 11-7. 

Closing out the dual, #4 Demarco Lee held on to win 13-10 in an exciting heavyweight bout. 

Head Coach Omi Acosta spoke on the performance, statign, "Number one thing, you know, the fight goes to the guys and all the accomplishments and everything that we did today goes go to the guys that stepped out and wrestled. A big shout out to Coach R.C. LaHaye, we went to them twice, they came down here again, and we ended up on top, obviously, but it's a great always competition. It's a great dual to have that across division matchup. I wish more southern teams would do that, however, they have to come back here next year. If they want us, we're not going back to them. We went back to them twice so now it's time return the favor next year and I'm excited and it's good for wrestling to have this type of event. Thank you for to everyone for supporting Life U Wrestling. LUCHA!"
 

Results:
125: Kaden Kuenzi (LAND) over Adrian Morales (LIUN) (MD 11-2) 

133: Thaddeus Long (LIUN) over Christian Davis (LAND) (MD 17-4) 

141: Isham Peace (LAND) over Jordan Mitchell (LIUN) (Dec 4-2) 

149: Pat Gould (LIUN) over Reid Noble (LAND) (Dec 8-2) 

157: Fabian Padilla (LIUN) over Noah Ruolo (LAND) (Dec 4-1) 

165: David Hunsberger (LAND) over Steven Villalobos (LIUN) (TF 24-7 6:00) 

174: Alexander Couto (LIUN) over Nathan Buckovich (LAND) (Dec 11-4) 

184: Jesse Perez (LIUN) over Anthony Giampeitro (LAND) (MD 14-3) 

197: Khalil Abdushshakur (LIUN) over Marvelous Rutledge (LAND) (Dec 11-7) 

285: Demarco Lee (LIUN) over Issac Sheeren (LAND) (Dec 13-10)