William Penn Struggles at Qualifying Tournament
William Penn University Athletics
Des Moines–The Statesmen wrestling team will have over a week to work out a lot of kinks after it had a tough day at the NAIA Central National Qualifier Saturday.
William Penn placed tenth out of 11 teams with 33 points. #1 Grand View won the title easily with 208.5 points, while Oklahoma City was second with 149.5 points.
Saturday had the potential to be big as it gave the program one final chance to qualify some grapplers for nationals. Unfortunately, nearly everything went against the navy and gold and the Statesmen not only did not add additional qualifiers, but star 149-pounder Eric Burgey (So., Easton, Pa., Easton HS) also had his perfect record blemished (now 14-1).
After back-to-back falls, Burgey faced Missouri Valley’s Shay Shive for the second time this year. The sophomore dominated Shive 8-3 last month, but Shive got his revenge with a 9-6 win in the semifinals. Burgey did not return to the mat.
141-pounder Tommy Kozak (So., Belleville, Mich., Thiel) and 184-pounder Kyle Soderblom (Fr., Newton, Lynnville-Sully HS), both of whom came into Saturday ranked third in the Qualifying Group, failed to hold their seeds as each was eliminated after two matches.
Ishmael Rempson (Fr., Olympia Fields, Ill., Rich Central HS) was the team’s bright spot, becoming the only team member to place in the top six. The 157-pounder was 2-3 with one major decision to take home sixth place.
141-pounder Charlton Benjamin (Fr., Atlanta, Ga., Miller Grove HS) matched Rempson with two wins (one fall, one major decision), but was knocked out one round too early to also place.
Eric Van Wagoner (Fr., Portland, Ore., Westview HS), with one fall at 133 pounds, Carey Cloud (Fr., Havelock, N.C., Tucker HS), with one win at 149 pounds, and Kory Morrow (So., Oskaloosa, Wartburg), with one win at heavyweight, also had their hands raised Saturday.
Next: A large contingent of national qualifiers will travel back to Des Moines March 1-3 for the NAIA National Championships.
