Crete, Neb. – Dakota Wesleyan wrestling sends 10 wrestlers into the second day of the GPAC tournament while four wrestlers are still in the hunt for a championship medal in their respective weight classes.
How It Happened
Tiger men's wrestling posted a strong first day at the GPAC wrestling championships. Will Farren got rolling in the 125 match, dropping his first match of the day to Juan Lugo of BCU by fall in 1:15. Farren stays alive in his hunt for a medal as he only wrestled one single match today. Temuujin Natsagdorj in the 133 class, scored seven team points for DWU picking up his first match win of the tournament by a 12-4 major decision win over Devin Avedisian of Doane. Tempka also continues his hunt for a medal tomorrow. Zach Zitek chipped in with three team points of his own going 1-1 on the opening day. After dropping his opening match to Bulldogs wrestler by a 14-1 major decision, Zitek secured a big key win by fall in 3:56 over Jahn Williams of UJ in the second round of consolations. Aric Williams was perfect on the day with a win by fall of his own in 4:24 over Tyler Fouts of BCU giving the Tigers eight more team points. Tommy Klemesrud fell by a 3-1 decision in his first 157 match of the two days. Kaleb Bigelow notched six team points with a 6-4 decision win in his first match of the day, while Lane Miller fell in his first match, then picked up a win by fall in 5:10 against Colton Home of Midland. Payton Planansky at 184 closed the book on his season after dropping both matches. Colten Hink at 197, dropped one match today as he still survives to see day two tomorrow. Trevion Sample added six team points for the Tigers, having two close matches. His first match of the day against Alton Allen of BCU was a 5-3 sudden victory win, before picking up his second win of the day 7-6 by tie breaker over Zephaniah Sivels of Midland.
Mueller's Thoughts
"I'm extremely proud of these guys! We had some guys pull off big upsets over guys who have beaten us within the last month, but also the opposite for some of our younger guys; but this will be a good building block for them as they keep growing. We battled all day and I'm proud. It's a whole new tournament tomorrow, and, it's going to be a lot of fun."
Up Next
The Tigers are back in action again tomorrow from Crete, Nebraska for day two of the tournament as several Tigers look to capture medal finishes.