Central wrestling squad prominent in new rankings

PELLA — The National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III rankings and the D3wrestle.com polls were released late last week and the Central College wrestling team was heavily featured in both organization’s list.

In the NWCA’s second dual team rankings, Central came in at No. 14. In their tournament team rankings, Central is at No. 24. The tournament team rankings are compiled based on the points awarded for each individual wrestler in the rankings.

Individually in the NWCA poll, senior Shandon Akeo (fifth year, Honolulu, Hawaii, Kapolei HS) stayed at no. 3 at 125 pounds and Rob Areyano (Selma, Calif.) moved up to No. 10 at 149 pounds.

The D3wrestle.com poll has Akeo at No. 1 and Areyano at No. 6. After the top-10 wrestlers, D3wrestle lists additional wrestlers as contenders and three Dutch wrestlers were included: Brock Beck (sophomore, 141 pounds, Grinnell), Gage Linahon (sophomore, 197 pounds, Newton) and Samuel Zook (senior, 285 pounds, Oak Harbor, Wash.).

Akeo is 10-0 on the season, winning five times by fall. Three of his falls came in the first period, including twice within a minute of the match starting. He earned a bracket title at the Pointer Open in November.

Areyano is 13-2 on the season, winning eight times by fall. He has won 10 straight matches, including a win over the No. 1 wrestler in NJCAA for the tournament title at the Central Under Armour Invitational.

Beck has a team-high 22 wins on the season with just four losses. Linahon is 17-5 and Zook is 17-7.

As a team, Central is 6-3. All three of Central’s losses came against schools ranked in the top-10 nationally at the time of the match.

Central faces Buena Vista University, the University of Dubuque and Wartburg College Saturday at the American Rivers Conference duals in Dubuque Saturday starting at 10 a.m.

Posted by on Jan 18 2022. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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