Quartet to Hit Mat at Nationals
Oskaloosa–Four members of the Statesmen men’s wrestling team are ready to do battle at the 66th Annual NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship Friday and Saturday.
The Championship, which will be held in Wichita, Kan. in Hartman Arena, will consist of four sessions, beginning with Session I Friday at 10 a.m.
William Penn is sending four grapplers to Kansas for the double-elimination tournament (wrestle back to third place), including 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). Hargrove and Stanley are making their second appearances at nationals, while Bunce and Bottorff are going for the first time.
Preliminary brackets were released late last week and are subject to change, but according to those brackets, Hargrove, who owns a 20-9 record, will open nationals against #14 seed Dayton Marvel of Campbellsville (Ky.). Marvel is 14-3 this season.
With a 19-9 mark, Bunce will meet #16 seed Tristan Zamilpa of Doane (19-9 record), while Stanley, at 18-7, is set to face #13 seed Maximus Zamora of Menlo (Calif.). Zamora is 15-8.
Bottorff (10-18) will begin nationals versus #15 seed Nathan Critchfield of Indiana Tech), who enters at 16-6 overall.
