Men's Wrestling Places Second at GPAC Championships
Doane Men's Wrestling hosted the 2023 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Championships on Friday and Saturday in Fuhrer Field House. The Tigers walked away with a Second Place finish as they posted 175.0 points, nine behind Morningside.
The Tigers crowned three champions in the tournament. Six wrestlers automatically qualified for the NAIA National Championships.
Daniel Vargas was the first Tiger to win a championship on Saturday, winning his third straight GPAC title at 125. He went 4-0 on the weekend, starting the tournament off with an 11-2 major decision over Austin Pimentel (Midland). In the quarterfinals, he defeated Bryce Karlin (Concordia) by tech fall, 21-4. In the semifinals, Vargas topped Juan Lugo (Briar Cliff) by decision, 12-4. In the championship, he defeated Seth I'nama (Briar Cliff) by a 10-3 decision.
Baagii Boldmaa won his fourth GPAC championship at 141, going 3-0 in the tournament and extending his win-streak to 97 straight matches, sixth-best in men's collegiate wrestling. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Jahn Williams (Jamestown) by pin in 37 seconds. In the semifinals, Boldmaa defeated Nicholas Walters (Morningside) by tech fall, 17-2. The championship match saw him defeat NAIA No. 16 Creighton Baughman (Concordia) by major decision, 13-4.
Bradley Antesberger won his second GPAC championship in three years at 197. He went 3-0, starting with a major decision victory over Jose Sanchez (Northwestern), 13-4. In the semifinals, he defeated Kolton Kammeyer (Midland) by decision, 3-0. The championship match saw Antesberger defeat Kaleb Lind (Northwestern) by tech fall, 19-3.
Placing second at 149 was Nate Lendt with a 3-1 record. He opened with a pin of Jeaven Scdoris (Concordia) in 5:19. In the quarters, he defeated Jake Patterson (Hastings) by major decision, 15-7. Lendt held on for a 12-10 decision in the semifinals over Tommy Beringer (Jamestown). In the championship, he got caught in a pin by NAIA No. 9 John Diener in the first period.
Picking up a "true" second place finish was Michael Scarponi to earn a bid to nationals. He opened with a pair of 37-second pins for his first two wins of the tournament, defeating Keenan Griffin (Hastings) and NAIA No. 25 Lane Miller (Dakota Wesleyan). In the semifinals, he was edged late by Alex Vandyke (Morningside) by a 3-2 decision. In the consolation bracket, Scarponi defeated Grant Moser (Concordia) by tech fall, 17-1. In overtime of the Third Place match, he defeated Miller in overtime, 7-5, with a late takedown. To determine the final bid for the weight class into nationals, Scarponi would wrestle a non-countable match against his teammate, Chinges Tsermaa. Scarponi won 1-0 to earn an automatic bid to nationals.
In the heavyweight division, Brandon Antesberger finished third and earned a bid to nationals. He went 4-1 in the tournament. Antesberger started out with a 6-3 decision over Matthew Johnston (Midland). In the quarterfinals, he defeated Matheson Rodriguez (Hastings) by pin in 1:57. In the semifinals, NAIA No. 13 Hunter DeJong won in overtime, 5-1, sending Antesberger into the consolation bracket. In a rematch with Johnston, he won by pin in 5:58. The Third Place match went to Antesberger by tech fall, 15-0, over Alton Allen (Briar Cliff).
Several Tigers will now wait to see if they might claim one of the three wild cards in their weight class.
Tsermaa placed second at 174 with a 2-1 mark on the weekend, but dropped the aforementioned "true" second place match to Scarponi. He defeated Carston Toedter (Jamestown) in the quarterfinals by tech fall, 27-8. In the semifinals, he defeated Jakob Francksen-Small (Northwestern) by decision, 9-4. The finals went to Vandyke (Morningside) by an 8-2 decision.
Tristan Zamilpa placed second at 157 with a 2-1 weekend. He defeated Tommy Klemesrud (Dakota Wesleyan) by pin in 1:56 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Zamilpa defeated Tommy Wentz (Concordia) by decision, 3-1, but came away hurt following a late-match takedown. In the championship match, Noah Styskal (Morningside) won by medical forfeit.
Benjamin Dobler placed fourth at 165 with a 3-2 record. He opened the weekend with a 6-4 loss to Kaleb Bigelow (Dakota Wesleyan). He bounced back with three straight wins to advance to the Third Place match. Dobler defeated Kody Hahn (Midland) by a 13-5 major decision. He followed with a 12-4 major decision over Brandon Harris (Briar Cliff). A medical forfeit win moved Dobler into a match with NAIA No. 15 Zander Ernst. Ernst picked up a late takedown to pick up a 6-5 decision.
In the 184 bracket, Garrett Cornwell placed fifth a 4-2 weekend. He opened with a 3-2 decision over Diante Taylor (Jamestown). In the quarterfinals, he lost to Stephen Duffy (Concordia) by an 8-3 decision. In the consolation bracket, he started with a win over Payton Planansky (Dakota Wesleyan) by a 3-2 decision. He followed with a 12-4 major decision over Trevor Sagness (Northwestern). Cornwell dropped a 6-2 decision to NAIA No. 25 Logan Davidson (Concordia). In the Fifth Place match, he defeated Taylor in a rematch, 5-1.
Devin Avedissian placed fifth at 133 with a 4-2 record. In his opening match, he defeated Jace Goebel (Jamestown) by major decision, 12-0. In the quarterfinals, Temuujin Natsagdorj (Dakota Wesleyan) defeated him by a 12-4 major decision. Avedissian won 1-0 over Grant Wells (Concordia) in the consolation bracket. He followed with a 16-1 tech fall over Sean Heeney (Northwestern). Kavika Aholelei handed him his second loss, a 13-1 major decision. In the Fifth Place match, he won a rematch with Natsagdorj by a 6-2 decision.
Ben Miller placed sixth with a 2-3 record at 141. Ethan Krey (Briar Cliff) defeated Miller in the quarterfinals with a 9-3 decision. In the consolation bracket, he defeated Cade Braun (Northwestern) by pin in 1:59 and followed with a pin of Andy Rojas (Hastings) by pin in 1:07. Walters (Morningside) defeated Miller by an 11-6 decision and Krey won the rematch for Fifth Place by a 6-4 decision.
The NAIA National Championships will be held in Park City, Kansas, on March 3-4.