Four Qualify for Nationals as Statesmen Place Fourth in League
Oskaloosa–Eight individuals placed in the top six and four punched their tickets for nationals as the William Penn men’s wrestling team had a stout performance at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Saturday.
WPU finished fourth out of 11 teams with 93 points, while Grand View won the team crown with 229 points. It is the second year in a row that the team has finished fourth, but this season is different as the Statesmen qualified twice as many individuals for the NAIA National Championship.
William Penn will be represented at nationals by 149-pounder Cameron Hargrove (So., Bolingbrook, Ill., Undecided), 157-pounder Kael Bunce (Jr., Stockbridge, Mich., Mechanical Engineering), 174-pounder Makail Stanley (So., Oreana, Ill., Biology), and 197-pounder Branson Bottorff (Jr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology).
Several other individuals were just on the outside looking in at qualifying berths on a day where nine WPU grapplers managed multiple victories.
The navy and gold started slow with only six members winning their first match. Most of the squad’s work, therefore, was done on the consolation side.
Stanley was the lone Statesmen to never face demotion to the consolation side as he won his first three matches, including one by fall and one by major decision, to reach the finals. Unfortunately, he was defeated 12-3 by top-seeded Isaiah Luellen of Grand View in the championship bout.
Eight wrestlers had a chance to reach their bronze matchup, but were denied. Due to the high number of national-qualifying allocations the Heart had, Hargrove, Bunce, and Bottorff all earned berths with fifth-place efforts.
Hargrove picked up back-to-back technical fall wins to advance to the semifinals, but came up short there. After dropping into the loser’s bracket, the sophomore locked up his bid by getting past Missouri Valley’s Steven Weathers 11-6 to cap a 3-2 day.
After succumbing in his first matchup, Bottorff bounced back with consecutive decisions to get to the consolation semifinals. He lost in the battle, but was declared the winner in the fifth-place outing via medical forfeit to lock up a trip to Kansas next month.
Bunce’s berth was a bittersweet one as he was forced to face teammate Steven Skewes (So., Duchesne, Utah, Exercise Science) in the last match to secure his spot. Bunce took down a pair of foes to get to the semifinals. After losing two matches in a row, the junior had to get by Skewes in an emotional 14-12 decision for a 3-2 final record.
Skewes did all of his damage (3-2 overall) from the left side of the bracket, winning twice by fall and another time by technical fall before a loss pit him against Bunch in the fifth-place showdown.
Matheson Meade (So., Knoxville, Tenn., Exercise Science) was also 3-2 and placed fifth with one fall and one major decision at 165 pounds.
Both 133-pounder Sabri Sino (Fr., Franklin, Wis., Sports Management) and 285-pounder Maxwell Diaz (Jr., Miami, Fla., Sports Management) ended up sixth Saturday. Sino was 2-3 with a major decision, while Diaz pinned one opponent.
125-pounder Jeffery Myers (Fr., Yelm, Wash., Education) notched two victories (fall, major decision), while 141-pounder Noah Aken (Fr., Omaha, Neb., Education) had a technical fall and a major decision as well. 184-pounder Mason Walters (So., Independence, Mo., Exercise Science) also posted one fall at the Championship.
“I am really proud of how we wrestled today,” Head Coach Aron Scott said. “Our guys had heart, energy, and fight and we definitely wrestled the best we have all year, which was our goal. Everyone left it on the mat. We not only had our best team finish point-wise in years, but also doubled the number of national qualifiers we had last season. I am excited for two weeks from now when we go to nationals and fight to put these guys on the podium.”
Next Up: The national-qualifying quartet will travel to Wichita, Kan. for nationals on March 3-4.
