Central wrestling squad competes at Jim Fox Invitational

Central College

DUBUQUE — The Central College wrestling squad had a trio of wrestlers finish in the top-three Saturday at the Jim Fox Invitational hosted by the University of Dubuque

It was another opportunity for Central’s underclassmen to take the main stage as coach Eric Van Kley rested his starters. Taking full advantage of the opportunity was freshman Jeremy Vester (Oak Harbor, Wash.). Vester won the individual title at 157 pounds, knocking off Frank Frassetto of Dubuque in a dramatic overtime victory in the final

“Our goal for this tournament was to see the younger guys have their best performance towards the end of the year,” Van Kley said. “I think Jeremy did exactly that. It was a great effort and really good day overall by him.”

Taking third place for the Dutch were freshmen Chase Petty (Pella) and Tristan Clark (Monroe, Iowa, PCM HS) at 133 and 141 pounds, respectively.

“Both of those guys were really aggressive today,” Van Kley said. “I think they showed a lot of confidence as well.”

At 285 pounds, Jaime Miranda (junior, Aberdeen, Wash.) suffered a tough 2-1 loss in the quarterfinals against Cornell’s Tyler Ortmann. Miranda rallied with three straight victories to get a rematch with Ortmann in the third-place bout. Miranda pushed Ortmann to overtime before ultimately losing 4-3 and finishing in fourth.

“Jaime had an outstanding day,” Van Kley said. “He had a tough loss early but scratched all the way back with some hard fought wins. It was far and away his best competition of the year.”

Central will host Iowa Conference rival Simpson on Thursday at 7 p.m. for the final dual of the Iowa Conference season. A win over the Storm and Central clinches a fourth-place finish in the league.

“We stress to our guys that conference duals are big,” Van Kley said. “I think because of the rivalry and close proximity to Simpson that our guys know this one matters maybe a little bit more than the other ones. We’ll be fired up and ready to go.”