Wire-to-Wire Victory for Men's Wrestling
Men's Wrestling brought home their second Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Tournament Championship in three years on Saturday with an impressive showing at the conference meet held in Seward. The Tigers rolled up 190 points, the most in a conference meet for the program, as they out-distanced second place Morningside by 24.5 points.
Twelve wrestlers competed for the Tigers in the tournament and all of them placed inside the Top 5 of their respective weight classes. Doane had six bracket champions as well.
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Nathan Rizek and Hunter Bennett represented the Tigers in the opening weight class. Rizek, the top seed, defended the seeding with a 4-0 record. He won all four matches by pin in the first period on his way to the title. In the semifinals, he won in 24 seconds to set a new school record for fastest pin in the weight class.
Bennett went 2-2 in the tournament as he opened with an upset of Seth I'nama of Briar Cliff, a 2023 national qualifier. He dropped his semifinal match by a 7-2 decision but bounced back with a pin in 1:03 before finishing in fourth place.
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Devin Avedissian placed fourth with a 1-2 record. He was the first wrestler to guarantee the Tigers points in the tournament as he had the fortune of drawing the lone bye in the bracket. He dropped his semifinal match before coming back with an 11-2 major decision in the consolation bracket. He dropped a 12-3 match to NAIA No. 6 CaRon Watson in the battle for third.
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Nate Lendt was the top seed and rolled into the championship match for the Tigers. He posted a pair of technical fall victories, 18-2 and 19-3, to advance to the finals. He took on NAIA No. 22 Ethan Krey of Briar Cliff for the title and picked up a 13-4 major decision.
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Benjamin Miller was the top seed for Doane and also advanced to the title match. He opened his action in the tournament with a second period pin (4:32) in the quarterfinals before taking an 8-5 decision in the semifinals. In the championship match, he faced NAIA No. 24 Noah Styskal of Morningside, the defending GPAC champion in the weight class. The two would need extra time before a Miller takedown in overtime brought home another Tiger title.
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Michael Scarponi and Cael Jordan represented the Tigers and both knocked off higher seeds to advance to the finals. Jordan opened action with a 17-1 technical fall victory before taking on the top seed, NAIA No. 25 Lane Miller in the semifinals. Jordan pinned Miller at 3:42 of the match. Scarponi opened with a pin at 5:54 before knocking off defending GPAC champion and NAIA No. 18 Alex Vandyke, 12-4, in the semifinals. Scarponi, the higher seed, received the championship win over Jordan by forfeit.
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Tyson Beauperthuy and Chase Stieb took to the mat in the bracket. Beauperthuy, the top seed, opened action with a pin in 2:26 and followed with a tech fall win, 19-4, to advance to the semifinals. He defeated NAIA No. 19 Jakob Francksen-Small of Northwestern by major decision, 15-5, to advance to the championship to face defending GPAC champion and NAIA No. 6 Hayden Wempen. The two had a close match (4-1) earlier this season but today belonged to Beauperthuy as he cruised to a 9-2 win.
Stieb drew NAIA No. 10 Luke Jenness in the first match and dropped a 7-3 decision. He came back with a pair of wins, 8-3 and 17-3. He lost in the consolation semifinals to Francksen-Small but bounced back to win a 10-7 decision to claim fifth place.
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The second bracket in which it would be an all-Tiger final as Bradley Antesberger and Kasten Grape rolled through. Antesberger received a bye before opening with an 18-2 win and followed with a pin in the semifinals. Grape posted a pair of pins in order to advance to the semifinals where he faced No. 22 Jake Rau of Jamestown. Grape won decisively, 15-3. In the finals, as the Tigers did at 174, the higher seed wrestler received the forfeit win, giving Antesberger a repeat for the championship.
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Eli Criblez opened the tournament against NAIA No. 8 and eventual champion Hunter DeJong. The two put on a great show for the heavyweight fans as they were tied 1-1 heading into the final 30 seconds. Criblez went for a takedown but came out on the bottom as DeJong received the takedown points for the win. The Tiger freshman bounced back with a 7-3 win and a pin in 1:13 to move into the consolation semifinals with a guaranteed spot to nationals on the line. Criblez took on Chance Robinson of Jamestown and the two would go into three overtimes. The score remained tied 1-1 after the first overtime and Robinson took the down position to start the next 30 second period. Criblez was able to control his opponent for the full time frame, setting up a quick finish in the third overtime. Now in the down position himself, Criblez was able to get to his feet quickly and work the escape for the winning point. He would take fourth place by forfeiting the final match.
Up Next
Nine wrestlers clinched spots to the NAIA National Championships on February 29-March 2 in Wichita, Kansas. Representing the Tigers will be Rizek, Lendt, Miller, Scarponi, Jordan, Beauperthuy, Antesberger, Grape, and Criblez. At-large bids will be announced later next week with a wrestler or two having a chance to add to the team's representation at the national tournament.