WPU Collects Victory on the Second Day of National Duals
Cedar Falls–The William Penn men’s wrestling team closed out NWCA National Duals by splitting a pair of meets Saturday.
The Statesmen (4-8), which was winless in two duals Friday, competed in the 13-16 seed bracket. WPU took down Oklahoma City 39-13 in the first matchup of the day, but finished with a 32-14 loss to Eastern Oregon to place 14th overall in the NAIA division.
It is the program’s first victory at the National Duals since defeating Cumberland (Tenn.) 44-6 during the 2006-2007 campaign.
Brendan Nantz (So., Tipton, Iowa, Industrial Technology) got things going against Oklahoma City with a forfeit at 125 pounds. It would be one of four forfeits that the Statesmen would receive from the Stars.
133-pounder Lane Scorpil (So., Columbus Junction, Iowa, Industrial Technology) followed by pinning Cooper Mahaffey in 5:39, while Hector Diaz (So., Miami, Fla., Human Services) and Sabri Sino (So., Franklin, Wis., Sports Management) collected back-to-back forfeits at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively, for a 24-0 edge.
After dropping a pair of bouts, the Statesmen got momentum back as Branson Bottorff (Sr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology) slipped by Kolbe Madron 6-5 at 174 pounds.
Kaden Kaiser (So., Urbandale, Iowa, Undecided) was then forfeited to at 184 pounds, while 197-pounder Jesse Schwery (So., Panama, Iowa, Secondary Education) capped the scoring with a win by fall over Cooper Cook in a time of 2:19.
Contrary to its battle against Oklahoma City, William Penn fell behind big against Marian (Ind.) and could not make up the difference.
Ryan Van Donselaar (Jr., Otley, Iowa, Exercise Science) finally got his squad on the board at 165 pounds by defeating Jimmy Lacey by a 17-1 technical fall.
Bottorff then clipped Noah Hollendonner 7-6 at 174 pounds and Kaiser had his hand raised again via forfeit at 184 pounds. Unfortunately, it was not enough to catch the Knights.
“I am really excited and proud of this team for their performance,” Head Coach Aron Scott said. “We got the invite on short notice and were not able to put our best lineup together, but we fought and had one of our best performances at national duals in quite a while.”
“We put true freshmen Trent Evans and Anthony Hackman in the lineup and bumped them around to fill some holes from injuries,” Scott added. “I am very proud of those guys to do that for our team on a big stage. This was a great way for us to start the second half of our season. We now have some momentum going into our next dual.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Tuesday to host Graceland in a Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet at 7 p.m.
WPU 39, Oklahoma City 13
125–Brendan Nantz (W) won by forfeit (6-0)
133–Lane Scorpil (W) won by fall over Cooper Mahaffey, 5:39 (12-0)
141–Hector Diaz (W) won by forfeit (18-0)
149–Sabri Sino (W) won by forfeit (24-0)
157–Keegan Luton (O) won by fall over Trent Evans, 0:35 (24-6)
165–Hayden Brown (O) won by decision over Cameron Hargrove, 16-9 (24-9)
174–Branson Bottorff (W) won by decision over Kolbe Madron, 6-5 (27-9)
184–Kaden Kaiser (W) won by forfeit (33-9)
197–Jesse Schwery (W) won by fall over Cooper Cook, 2:19 (39-9)
285–Grant Baber (O) won by major decision over Anthony Hackman, 13-5 (39-13)
Marian (Ind.) 32, WPU 14
125–Logan Richardson (M) won by fall over Brendan Nantz, 1:43 (0-6)
133–Landon Bertsch (M) won by decision over Lane Scorpil, 6-2 (0-9)
141–Logan Wagner (M) won by fall over Hector Diaz, 2:39 (0-15)
149–Seth Johnson (M) won by decision over Sabri Sino, 7-0 (0-18)
157–Aundre Beatty (M) won by major decision over Trent Evans, 17-7 (0-22)
165–Ryan Van Donselaar (W) won by technical fall over Jimmy Lacey, 17-1 (5-22)
174–Branson Bottorff (W) won by decision over Noah Hollendonner, 7-6 (8-22)
184–Kaden Kaiser (W) won by forfeit (14-22)
197–Liam Begley (M) won by major decision over Jesse Schwery, 15-4 (14-26)
285–Excell Brooks (M) won by fall over Anthony Hackman, 2:00 (14-32)
