Near-Perfect Second Day Nets Two Qualifiers for WPU
Oskaloosa–After struggling through the first day of competition, the Statesmen men’s wrestling team saw its top grapplers rise to the occasion as it qualified two for nationals at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Friday and Saturday.
As a team, William Penn placed seventh out of 10 squad with 51 points, while Grand View claimed the trophy with 212 points.
157-pounder Kael Bunce (Sr., Stockbridge, Mich., Mechanical Engineering) and 165-pounder Cameron Hargrove (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill., Sports Management) will both be representing WPU at the 67th Annual NAIA National Championship in Park City, Kan. from February 29-March 2.
The navy and gold enjoyed very few triumphs Friday as only three grapplers made it to Saturday in the newly-formatted event that featured two days of competition.
Branson Bottorff (Sr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology) won once (major decision) before being eliminated at 174 pounds, while Bunce and 133-pounder Lane Scorpil (So., Columbus Junction, Iowa, Industrial Technology) also came up short one time, but stayed alive for another session.
Needing an almost-flawless outing on Saturday, the trio delivered. Hargrove dominated his three bouts en route to a title, while Bunce went 5-1 overall to take third. Scorpil battled all the way back to his own third-place matchup, but fell one win shy of qualifying with a 3-2 record (two major decisions).
Hargrove, who is William Penn’s first conference champion since 2017 (John Altieri), was virtually untouchable, winning his first matchup by 19-2 technical fall and then pinning his semifinal opponent in 6:42 to reach the championship round. The #2 seed met Jett Nelson of Graceland in the finals and also dispatched him by pin in 4:54 to earn the gold. He will be making his third appearance at nationals.
Bunce’s uneven Friday included a fall before coming up one point short in the quarterfinals. With his back firmly against the wall, he gritted out four consecutive victories for the bronze. The senior, who is advancing to his second NAIA Nationals, opened Saturday with a major decision before a pair of technical falls got him to the third-place contest.
In that bout, he shut out Jonah Muhammad of Baker 7-0 to clinch his berth.
“What a tale of two completely different days of competition,” Head Coach Aron Scott said. “We did not show up to wrestle Friday; we did not wrestle our style or our matches. The second day was totally different. We made the mindset adjustments necessary to compete with greatness, competing at our best when our best was needed.”
“Cameron Hargrove wrestled the best I have ever seen from him,” Scott added. “Kael Bunce also wrestled the way we know he is capable of on Saturday. When he is on his game, he is tough to beat. Lance Scorpil had poise and patience today and battled through some tough matches. He grew a lot this season and we are hoping to get him an at-large bid to nationals. I am so proud of the way these guys represented their team. I cannot wait for nationals!”
