Gardner-Webb @ Bellarmine

Bellarmine Men's Wrestling beat Gardner-Webb Men's Wrestling 23-12 at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY on February 14, 2025. The Panthers collected the bonus points that decided the dual, turning a competitive meeting into an 11-point victory.

The turning work came at 149 and 165 pounds, where Zac Cowan and Cole Nance delivered emphatic major decisions. Cowan dominated Joseph Giordano 15-2 for a major decision, and Nance followed with a 21-7 major over Grant Kress. Those two majors produced eight team points and gave Bellarmine a sizable cushion heading toward the heavyweight rounds.

Daulton Mayer provided the knockout blow at 285, pinning Rocky Files to add six team points and effectively seal the result. Bellarmine’s three bonus-point wins accounted for 14 of their 23 team points, a margin the visiting Bulldogs could not overcome despite competitive work in other matches. Mayer’s fall late in the lineup turned a close dual into a clear Bellarmine win.

Overall, Bellarmine leaned on bonus scoring to separate itself, while Gardner-Webb kept fights close but could not match the decisive margins. The majors from Cowan and Nance and Mayer’s fall were the key moments that determined the outcome in Louisville.