Roberts, Melton lead Storm at own Luther L. Hill Invitational

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Brett Roberts placed fourth at 174 pounds and Jonathan Melton came in sixth at 149 to lead the Simpson wrestling team at its own Luther L. Hill Invitational on Saturday.

No team scores were kept at the second annual invitational, renamed for the late Simpson benefactor in 2013. Ten teams and 202 wrestlers took part in the event, held at Cowles Fieldhouse.

Roberts improved to 9-7 on the season after his solid showing. He won his first three matches of the day, advancing to the semifinals after wins over Central Missouri's Michael Boyd (7-2), Upper Iowa's Levi Henry (fall) and Grand View's Cody Swim (3-0). His first loss came to Dylan Blackford (Grand View), a 5-0 decision. Roberts met Boyd again in the consolation bracket, earning his second pin of the day to advance to the third-place match. Roberts met Swim again in the third-place match, but this time Swim came away with an 8-3 win.

Melton, a freshman, advanced to the quarterfinals before suffering his first loss of the day. He earned a major decision over Danny Conley (Labette CC) in the first round and pinned Josh Donkle (Coe) in the second round. After losing to Brian Warren (Grand View) in the quarters, Melton pinned Bryan Pittman (William Penn) and beat Donkle for the second time with a 20-13 decision. Melton lost in the consolation semifinals and took a medical forfeit in the fifth-place match to take sixth.

Jacob Mize posted a 3-2 record on the day, while Spencer Ward (184), Eric Quador (184) and Colby Vlieger (285) all went 2-2.

Up Next: The Storm are off until Tuesday, Dec. 16 when they travel to Mount Vernon, Iowa for a non-conference dual with Cornell.