Three Central wrestlers take first at Augsburg meet
Central College
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Fourteen Central College wrestlers were placewinners, including three first-place winners, at the Auggie Adidas Open at Augsburg College Saturday.
A trio of youthful first-place winners highlighted the day for the Dutch. Sophomores Jake Hergott (Lincoln, Neb., Southeast HS) and Zach Moss (Winterset) were winners in the silver brackets of 125 and 174 pounds, respectively, winning all four of their matches along the way. Freshman Gabe Cobb (Gilbert, Ariz., Williams Field HS) went 3-0 to win the bronze bracket of 133 pounds.
“I was really proud of our younger guys,” coach Eric Van Kley said. “I thought they were really aggressive today. There were a lot of points being scored in some of those matches. They really got to their offense and attacked. All three of them did a great job of being very offensive, throughout the day. All three of those guys and stepped up and had their best performances of the year so far.”
A very successful day for the Central College wrestling program featured 14 placewinners earned by the 24 Dutch wrestlers competing. Six of those placewinners came out of the top brackets at each weight class, the Gold brackets. No team scores were kept.
Daniel Page (senior, Tumwater, Wash) and Aaron Anderson (junior, Clarion, Iowa, Clarion-Goldfield HS) led the way in the Gold brackets, both earning 3-1 records and coming up with third-place finishes at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively.
Van Kley cited the effort and perseverance of sophomore 157-pounder Mike O’Connor (Lockport, Ill., St. Rita HS), who went 3-1 on the day. O’Connor, who placed fifth in the Gold bracket, suffered a tough loss in a dual with Coe College on Thursday and used this tournament as an opportunity to regroup, Van Kley said.
“Mike O’Connor had a tougher loss earlier in the day and then bounced back and won two tough ones to finish the day off. He was disappointed with how his performance was on Thursday and bounced back to have a real solid tournament today.”
Saturday’s tournament on the campus of Augsburg College (Minn.) featured top talent from Division II, Division III and junior colleges in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The higher level of competitions brings added challenges, but it also is very beneficial according to Van Kley.
“I think the biggest thing is that it shows not only what we’re doing well, but also some areas that we’ve got to improve on. When you wrestle higher levels of competition, you see areas of weakness that you’ve got to work on.
Ultimately, Van Kley was happy with what he saw from the team in its last match before Thanksgiving break begins.
“All in all, it was a good way to wrap up things before Thanksgiving,” Van Kley said. “But there are plenty of things we’ve got to work and improve on also.
The Dutch are off until Thursday, Dec. 4, when they’ll head to Galesburg, Ilinois to take on Knox (Ill.) and Augustana (Ill.) in dual action starting at 6:30 p.m.
