College Insider: Fairfield’s Sams excelling for Bellarmine wrestling

Sophomore Andrew Sams is a standout performer for the Bellarmine University wrestling team this season.

The Fairfield High School graduate is 13-2 and riding a seven-match winning streak for the Knights, who are based in Louisville, Ky.

Bellarmine lost to visiting Lindsey Wilson, the 14th-ranked NAIA team in the country, by a 27-12 margin last Thursday.

Wrestling up a weight class at 184, Sams defeated ninth-ranked Lucas Miozza with a 6-3 decision. Sams is 10-2 at 174 and 3-0 at 184.

The Knights will travel to Indianapolis for the Midwest Classic this weekend.

Men's swimming: Junior Brad Barren (Lakota East), freshman Noah Curry (Talawanda) and freshman Ben Hongell (Badin) helped Wittenberg place fifth among nine teams at the Transylvania Invitational on Dec. 1-2 in Lexington, Ky.

All three contributed to fifth-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:29.62) and 400 free relay (3:17.51). Hongell and Curry were fifth in the 800 free relay (7:26.38), Hongell and Barren were eighth in the 400 medley relay (3:45.61), and Barren was seventh in the 200 medley relay (1:41.51).

In individual races, Curry finished eighth in the 200 free (1:48.73) and 10th in the 50 free (22.15), Barren finished eighth in the 50 free (22.12) and ninth in the 100 free (48.58), and Hongell finished 13th in the 200 IM (2:03.94).

The Tigers will host Cumberlands and Indiana State on Jan. 12.

Men's basketball: Freshman guard Eddie Driskell (Edgewood) is averaging 2.5 points in 11 games off the bench for Mount Vernon Nazarene, which is 10-2 overall and 3-2 in the Crossroads League.

Driskell has five rebounds, four assists and two steals. He’s shooting 47.6 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the foul line.

The Cougars will be at home against Northwestern Ohio on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

Women's basketball: Sophomore guard Nia Staples (Lakota West) is averaging 10.9 minutes per game off the bench for West Virginia (5-2).

She is 8-of-8 at the free-throw line and is averaging 2.9 points, 1.1 rebounds, 1 assist and 0.7 steals per contest for the Mountaineers, who will meet Eastern Kentucky at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Charleston, W.Va.

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