Three Win Titles in Arizona for Men's Wrestling
Men's Wrestling competed at the Embry-Riddle Mile High Open on Saturday in Prescott, Arizona, bringing home eight finishes in the Top Four including three championships. The Tigers had 19 wrestlers combine to go 53-27 in the double-elimination meet.
Doane had two wrestlers at 125, Hunter Bennett and Russell Nickerson. Bennett finished fourth with a 4-2 record. He opened with back-to-back pins before picking up a major decision to advance to the semifinals. Bennett faced NAIA No. 16 Landon Smith of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.), an opponent he faced twice last season, splitting the matches. Bennett won in the first meeting this year, last weekend at the Falcon Invite. Smith would snag a takedown of Bennett which proved to be the difference in a 4-1 decision. Bennett bounced back with a win over Nickerson in the consolation bracket before falling in the Third Place match against NCAA D2 Rhys Sellers.
Nickerson went 4-2 on the day. He lost a tight decision to Joshua Rodriguez of Arizona Christian, 15-12, in the opener. He bounced back with three finishes, one via injury and two with tech fall stoppages. He added a major decision before dropping his match to Bennett.
Nathan Rizek and Tyler Caldwell competed for the Tigers at 133. Rizek went 3-2, opening with a pair of pins in under a minute. He dropped a match to NCAA D1 Yoshiya Funakoshi in the quarterfinals but followed with a pin in 1:08. He dropped his last match by pin in the third period. Caldwell went 1-2 for the Tigers, picking up a first period pin in the consolation round.
Three Tigers were in action at 141, Tristen Brown, Quentyn Frank, and Devin Avedissian. Brown went 1-2, picking up a pin over NCAA D1 Noah Valenzuela of Grand Canyon (Ariz.). Frank was 0-2 and Avedissian was 0-1.
Nathan Lendt was the lone wrestler at 149 and he went 5-1 on the day to place fourth. He opened with a pair of pins, both under 50 seconds. In the quarterfinals, he was edged out by NCAA D1 Kao Ruiz of Cal Baptist, 11-8. Lendt bounced back with a major decision and a 29-second pin. In his final match, he defeated Ezekiel Lara of Menlo, 5-3. Lendt would not be able to wrestle the match for Third Place due to the six-match daily limit.
In the 157 division, the Tigers had two wrestlers take the mat, Benjamin Miller and Gavin Smith. Miller won the bracket with a 5-0 record. He posted four consecutive pins to advance to the championship match. He opened with a pin in 2:35 and followed with a pin over James Donham of UNLV in 52 seconds. Miller followed with pins in 1:22 and 1:51. In the championship, he won by no contest.
Smith went 3-2, opening with a pair of pins over NCAA D1 opponents. He defeated Coby Chan of Grand Canyon in 42 seconds and Jesse Jeremiah of UNLV in 1:38. Smith lost his quarterfinal match by a 9-3 decision. In the consolation bracket, he picked up a 9-6 win before falling to a NCAA D2 opponent.
Benjamin Dobler went 4-2 at 165. He started the day with a major decision and followed with a pin in 3:33 over NCAA D2 Charles Croci. He was edged in the quarterfinals by NCAA D1 Timothy Cowan, 4-3. Dobler came back with a tech fall win and a decision victory before falling to another NCAA D1 opponent in his final match.
Cael Jordan went 5-1 to place third in the 174 bracket. He opened with a pair of tech fall victories, 19-2 and 15-0. In the quarterfinals, he defeated NCAA D2 Zackary Small of New Mexico Highlands by pin in 4:17. The semifinal match would be Jordan's only loss, falling to NCAA D1 Justin Phillips. He bounced back with a pin of Micah Tillar of Grand Canyon in 38 seconds and received a no contest win in the Third Place match over NAIA No. 18 Ledger Petracek.
Terungwa Unongo went 3-2 at 174. He had a decision victory and a pin in 1:49 to advance to the quarterfinals. He lost to unattached wrestler, Benson Henderson, in the quarterfinals by a 10-3 decision. Unongo bounced back with a 9-6 win over UNLV's Rene Hernandez. He lost to Grand Canyon's Micah Tillar in his final match.
Doane owned the 184 and 197 brackets, taking first and second place in both divisions. At 184, Tyson Beauperthuy went 4-0 to claim the title, defeating teammate Chase Stieb in the championship match. Stieb went 3-1 with a win over a ranked wrestler. Bradley Antesberger won his second straight tournament at 197, going 4-0 on the day. Kasten Grape went 3-1, dropping the championship match to Antesberger.
Beauperthuy started with a tech fall win, 19-3, before downing Menlo's Kannon Campbell with a pin in 4:04. Injury stoppage in the semifinals would advance him to the finals where he defeated Stieb. The tournament started with a pair of pins for Stieb, both in the first period. In the semifinals, he defeated NAIA No. 17 Kaden Martin of Arizona Christian, 16-10.
Antesberger posted a pair of tech fall victories to advance into the semifinals. He then defeated Jett Swain of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) by major decision, 11-1. In the championship, he defeated Grape by decision. Grape won by tech fall in each of his matches. He posted stoppages with final scores of 22-4, 17-1, and 18-1.
In the heavyweight division, Eli Criblez went 1-2 and Dylan White was 0-2. Criblez picked up a tech fall win, 17-2, over Jewlius Soto of Ottawa (Ariz.).
Next up for the Tigers will be the Nebraska-Kearney Younes Hospitality Open on Saturday, November 18.