WEST Liberty, West Virginia - With some solid performances up at Millerville, the Salem men's wrestling program was energized and ready to make a big splash at their first ever program appearance at the Mountain East Conference Championship today. The event was hosted by West Liberty University, and the Tigers certainly made their mark. Sean Johnson led the way for Salem by defeating nationally ranked Caleb Brooks from Glenville State to win Salem's first ever individual conference championship. 

As previously mentioned, it was a banner performance for Sean Johnson. He opened with a tight 2-1 win over Anthony Wood of perennial conference power West Liberty. After that win, Johnson grinded out his championship win by a tough 4-0 scoreline against rival Glenville State's Caleb Brooks, who came into the contest ranked 10th in the nation. 

Outside of Johnson's historic day, there were numerous other solid performances for the Tigers. Seth Thomas finished 3rd overall in the 157 pound weight class. He started off with a win over Fairmont State's Jim Green, then fell in the semifinal match. Thomas bounced back with a pair of wins over wrestlers from Wheeling and host West Liberty to earn his podium position in the final standings. 

Kourdell Todd, Dylan Knight, Riley Curran, and David Makupson all earned individual bout wins on the day as well. As a team, Salem finished 6th place overall as they finished just a single point short of Fairmont State.

With the strong performance at the conference championship, Salem will be energized to wrap up their final regular season dates in the coming weeks. Their final home dual of the season against the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears will take place on February 8th at 7 PM. Senior night festivities will occur ahead of that contest with the Golden Bears.