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The 5X���� wrestling team recently announced the upcoming arrival of 11 new members for the 2013-2014 season. Nine of the incoming freshmen are Ohio natives, while the other two come from New Jersey and California.
 
“I’m real excited because I know this group has the kind of guys that will be graduating,” Head Coach Jim Andrassy says of a group with seven members receiving partial academic scholarships. “Guys typically don’t come in here as blue chip recruits, but they get better and better as their careers go on and I see that happening with this class.”

Thomas Zeigler (North Ridgeville, Ohio), D.J. Schoeppner (Canton, Ohio) and Jonas Gayton (Clovis, Calif.) are all expected to compete at 125 pounds. Zeigler, a three-time Division I state place winner, finished third at 126 pounds this season for St. Ignatius. Schoeppner was a three-time state place winner in Division II, winning 161 career matches at Canton South.  A rare Kent State pickup from California, Gayton was ranked No. 13 among the nation’s best 120-pounders by FloWrestling.

Expecting to compete at 133 pounds will be Chance Driscoll (Aurora, Ohio) and Mike Rix (Akron, Ohio). Driscoll cracked the 28-time state champion St. Edward’s starting lineup as a senior, placing sixth at the Division I state tournament. Rix was a Division II state champion and finished in the top three at the state tournament in all four seasons at St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Joining the Flashes in the middleweights will be Jacob Globke (Middletown, Ohio), Jerald Spohn (New Lexington, Ohio) and Beau Vrancken (Annandale, N.J.). Globke was as high as No. 2 in Ohio’s Division I state rankings at 160 pounds last season. Competing for North Hunterdon High School, Vranken went 24-3 as a senior at 152 pounds and won a Region 5 title as a junior. As a senior, Spohn finished 48-5 at 152 pounds, but a shoulder injury prevented him from competing in the state tournament.

Charlie Keenan (Steubenville, Ohio) and Stephen Suglio (Richfield, Ohio) are both expected to compete at 197 pounds. Keenan won 40 matches as a junior on his way to a Division II state runner-up finish at 195 pounds. Suglio was a Division II runner-up at the state tournament as a senior, capping off a 48-3 season at 182 pounds. His 127 wins and 78 pins are program records at Revere.

Competing for a starting spot at heavyweight will be Travis Gusan (Hilliard, Ohio). The 2013 Division I state champion at heavyweight, Gusan was also the state runner-up in 2012.

“We’ve got some nationally ranked kids coming, but we’re a program that’s going to teach and develop,” Andrassy says. “The seniors that just graduated (Dustin Kilgore, Stevie Mitcheff, Casey Newburg, Tommy Sasfy, Keith Witt) helped to get us into the national rankings and this class will help keep us there.” 

Kent State finished 24th in the final team standings of the 2013 NCAA Championships; its fourth Top 25 finish in the last five seasons.