Dutch men top five brackets at Luther Hill Invitational

INDIANOLA – In its season-opening meet, the Central College men’s wrestling team had five entries win their brackets at Simpson College’s Luther Hill Invitational Saturday.

Central entered 31 men into both the Open and the Fresh/Soph divisions. Most of Central’s returning starters were not competing.

Dominick Marre (freshman, Bartlett, Ill., Glenbard North HS) went 5-0 at 125 pounds to win the Fresh/Soph bracket. Classmate Carter West (Burlington, Notre Dame HS) went 4-0 to win the Fresh/Soph 133-pound title.

“The reason we came to this tournament is because of how competitive the freshman/sophomore division is,” coach Landon Williams said “We really wanted to test the freshman class and to cap it off with two champs is us getting what we came for.”

In the open brackets, three Dutch wrestlers went 3-0 for first-place finishes. Elijah Belzer (junior, Wapello, 157 pounds), Jason Hermann (senior, Stockton, Ill., 174 pounds) and Kyler Hall (sophomore, Boones, Ames HS, 285 pounds) all had championship performances.

“Jason is moving up a weight class,” Williams said. “Kyler had a huge offseason and is really committed to doing what we’ve been working on.”

The Dutch had nine other wrestlers place in the top six of their respective brackets.

“I’m super proud of the group as a whole,” Williams said. “Their effort and their fight and just taking the things we’ve been working on and putting it into competition is huge.”

Central travels next Saturday to the Millikin Open in Decatur, Illinois.

“We’re excited to put the rest of our crew out there next weekend and see if they can do the same thing,” Williams said.