Men's Wrestling Wins GPAC Duals Crown
Men's Wrestling closed out the regular season on Saturday evening as they hosted Concordia in GPAC action. The Tigers entered the dual undefeated in conference action, looking to secure the out-right conference championship for the third time in four seasons.
Doane took the opening match only to have Concordia take the next two and go in front. The Tigers responded quickly with a pin to regain the lead and never looked back on their way to a 44-8 victory over the Bulldogs.
NAIA No. 12 Nathan Rizek opened action at 125 and needed one takedown as he pinned Bryson Bussinger in 53 seconds. Concordia's Grant Wells defeated Russell Nickerson at 133, 8-0, and NAIA No. 8 Creighton Baughman defeated Tristen Brown at 141, 11-1, to take an 8-6 team score lead.
Doane regained the lead as NAIA No. 2 Nathan Lendt pinned Tracey Allen in 1:06 at 149. NAIA No. 14 Ben Miller took on Jeaven Scdoris at 157 and the two put on the best back-and-forth battle of the night. Miller opened with a takedown but Scdoris picked up a reversal. Following a Miller escape, Scdoris took the lead with a takedown only to have Miller escape once again as the two were tied 5-5 after three minutes.
Miller opened the second period in the bottom position and worked to an escape. Scdoris picked up his second takedown which was followed by an escape as the Bulldogs' wrestler led 8-7 after five minutes. In the final period, Scdoris picked up an escape to take a two-point lead but in the final 30 seconds, Miller took down Scdoris and earned four additional near-fall points before a reversal. Miller received an escape point with five seconds left to post a 15-11 win.
Cooper Spaulding gave Doane their third pin of the evening at 165. He led 3-2 after the first period over Barret Brandt. Spaulding picked up an early takedown in the second period and pinned Brandt at 3:29. NAIA No. 15 Michael Scarponi added a second period pin at 174. He led 4-0 after the first period over Stephen Duffy. He picked up a takedown to go up 7-0 and was able to roll Duffy over into a pin at 4:25.
NAIA No. 5 Tyson Beauperthuy gave the Tigers a run of three-straight pins as he earned his at 184. He led 7-1 after the first period and started in the bottom position to open the second. Beauperthuy picked up a reversal and added four more points before picking up a pin at 3:36.
Bradley Antesberger, ranked No. 1 at 197 in the NAIA, defeated Teegan Tschampel by tech fall, 21-5. Antesberger recorded two takedowns in the first period for a 6-2 lead. He started the second in the bottom position, picked up a reversal along with two additional takedowns for a 14-4 lead after five minutes of action. In 55 seconds of the third period, he posted four near-fall points, allowed an escape, and followed up with a takedown to end the match.
In the final match of the day, NAIA No. 20 Eli Criblez took on Clayton Laabs. Criblez picked up an early takedown and before the restart, allowed an escape point to Laabs. Another takedown by Criblez resulted in a pin at 1:48 as he joined Beauperthuy as the team leaders with 24 wins this season.
Next up for the Tigers will be a trip to Seward as Concordia is set to host the GPAC Tournament Championships on February 16-17.