Men's Wrestling Takes 5th at GPAC; Mattern Places 2nd
(Orange City, IA) – The men’s wrestling team competed in the two-day GPAC Championship event, taking fifth out of nine teams. Sophomore Koen Mattern finished second at 285, sophomore Jordan Tobias was third at 157, and four Broncos took fifth place.
(Orange City, IA) – The men's wrestling team competed in the two-day GPAC Championship event, taking fifth out of nine teams. Sophomore Koen Mattern finished second at 285, sophomore Jordan Tobias was third at 157, and four Broncos took fifth place.
Sophomore Koen Mattern won his quarterfinal match by a 17-4 major decision over Northwestern's Jaxson Hildebrand at 285, taking a 6-2 lead after one and outscoring him 11-2 the rest of the way. He the defeated #10 Gabe Kant of Concordia in a 13-5 major decision in the semifinals, going up 9-2 after two periods to gain control of the match. Mattern got an escape against #3 Zeph Sivels of Midland in the second period to go up 1-0, but Sivels tied it up with an escape in the third. The match would go into a third overtime, where Sivels would win 2-1 on an escape point.
At 157, sophomore Jordan Tobias began with a 10-3 decision win over Zion Amerson of Midland, getting three takedowns and riding time. He won his quarterfinal match with a 6-2 decision against Cade Braun of Northwestern. In the win over Braun, Tobias held a 3-2 lead going into the third and got a takedown in the final seconds to wrap it up. After a semifinal loss by fall to #3 Benjamin Miller of Doane, he bounced back with a 18-7 major decision win versus Briar Cliff's Brandon Harris. In the consolation final, he won a 13-9 decision over Gavin Braun from Dakota Wesleyan to take third.
At 125, junior Creel Weber lost his opening match in the quarterfinals to Midland's Dylan Atherton, then picked up a 16-5 major decision win against Logan Schroeder of Northwestern to move into the consolation semifinals. He was pinned by Waldorf's Malachi Aispuro, putting him in the fifth place match, where he pinned Morningside's Ryan Buchanan four minutes in to place fifth.
Junior Justin Rodriguez defeated Northwestern's Ethan Skoglund at 133 in the round of 16, 14-0 in a major decision. Down 1-0 in the third period against #7 Paul Ruff of Concordia, Rodriguez tied it up on a stalling point penalty, but Ruff would win the match with a takedown in overtime. In the consolation bracket, he got a pin at the 2:36 mark over Christian Ahren of Morningside. He won his next match against Dakota Wesleyan's Tukker Boe in a 13-4 major decision, before losing a tight 4-3 decision to #20 Jarrod Gilliam of Briar Cliff. Rodriguez placed fifth with a pin over #22 Dante Rigal of Briar Cliff after trailing 5-3 in the second period.
After a round of 16 loss by fall to Dakota Wesleyan's Ian Metz at 141, senior Dalton Michael picked up a 14-3 major decision in his first consolation match over Evan Fuchs of Briar Cliff. Michael won his consolation quarterfinal match in a 9-4 decision against Waldorf's Rev Baptista, He wrestled Metz a second time, this time in the consolation semifinals, getting pinned at the 3:42 mark. Michael ended up finishing fifth after a 7-2 decision win over Dakota Wesleyan's Landon Flogstad.
After an 8-4 decision loss to Mekhi Bovve from Morningside at 197, sophomore Justyce Hostetler wrestled his way to an 11-6 decision win over Midland's Collin Stone in the consolation bracket by scoring all five of the points in the third period. He was victorious in the consolation quarterfinals as well, pinning Carter Peterson from Northwestern at the 1:29 mark. Hostletler got an early takedown in the consolation semifinal against Chase Stieb of Doane, but Stieb rallied to win 5-3. He placed fifth with a pin at the 3:24 mark over Northwestern's Joel Arias.
At 165, senior Israel Manriquez began with a loss by fall to #22 Jackson Remmers of Dakota Wesleyan. Trailing 1-0 in the third period in the consolation bracket against Northwestern's Wyatt Bice, he got an escape to force overtime, where he got a takedown to earn the win. Manriquez ended his run with a tech fall loss to Doane's Edward Ramirez in the consolation quarterfinals.
Sophomore Esteban Sedano responded from a loss by fall to #14 Jagger Tyler of Dakota Wesleyan at 174 by winning a 10-6 decision in the consolation bracket over Waldorf's Daven Hames. Sedano lost his next match in a 15-4 major decision to Concordia's Evan Sepanlou.
Hastings will now await the announcement from the NAIA for the list of the National Tournament Qualifiers. Nationals will take place on March 5-7 in Wichita, KS.
