Men's Wrestling Opens with Pair of GPAC Wins

Men's Wrestling opened their dual season on Tuesday with a pair of matches in Sioux City, Iowa, at the GPAC Duals. The Tigers opened with a shutout of Northwestern, 50-0, and followed up with a 40-9 victory over Briar Cliff.

Doane Head Coach Dana Vote picked up his 100th career coaching victory in the Tigers' opening win. The victory over Northwestern provided a little extra special meaning as his first GPAC win was also against the Red Raiders when Vote was the coach at Concordia.

In the Tigers' win over Northwestern, two matches highlighted the dual as Top 25 wrestlers faced off. At 184, Doane's Tyson Beauperthuy, ranked No. 5, took on No. 12 Luke Jenness. The Red Raider wrestler was recently named the GPAC Wrestler of the Week after upsetting the top ranked wrestler last weekend. On this night, the match would belong to Beauperthuy from the start as he picked up two takedowns in the opening period. When the dust settled, Beauperthuy had a major decision victory, 17-5.

In the match at 197, Kasten Grape, ranked No. 8, took on Northwestern's Kaleb Lind, ranked No. 22. Grape also controlled from the start, recording four takedowns in the opening period. He needed an additional minute of action in the second period to close out the match with a technical fall win, 21-4, in 4:01.

The Briar Cliff match would also feature two Top 25 battles. The match opened with the first at 125 between No. 13 Hunter Bennett of Doane and the Chargers' Seth I'nama, ranked No. 11. After a scoreless first period, the two would battle through the next two minutes with each scoring three points. Bennett earned an escape to open the third period followed by a penalty point against I'nama. The match went down to the final second as I'nama recorded a takedown with one second left for a 6-5 win.

At 157, No. 20 Benjamin Miller took on BCU's No. 25 Ben Peters. The first period would be a wild one as Miller led 8-7 after three minutes of action. Miller recorded a pair of takedowns that Peters would be able to earn a reversal on. Miller escaped both reversals and led 8-4 but Peters recorded a takedown to pull within one entering the second period. Miller started down and would work a reversal 40 seconds into the period. Following four nearfall points to take a 14-7 lead, Miller was able to press Peters' shoulders to the mat for a pin in 4:27.

The upset of the day came in the second match of the BCU dual as Nathan Rizek took on NAIA No. 3 CaRon Watson. Watson recorded a first period takedown and added six nearfall points in the second period. Rizek, trail 9-0 entering the third period, would have top position to start the final two minutes. Watson was able to get to his feet but as Rizek started to slide off, he was able to lock his wrists, maintain control, and pull Watson down to his back and record the pin.

The Tigers will return to action on Saturday, December 2, at 9 AM when they make their home debut. Doane will host the Conner/Oppenheim Open inside Fuhrer Field House.