The Red Raiders are 2-0 overall in duals after a 19-17 win against conference foe Briar Cliff University. The Raiders are 1-0 in the GPAC after beating a top 30 team in the national rankings.
The match started off with a NWC win as
Austin Boles won via decision to put the Raiders up 3-0.
Darian Murphy would then lose via tech fall as the Raiders would drop to 3-5 after two rounds.
Cole Mills would earn another decision to put the Raiders back up 6-5 and after that, the match came a bit unglued for the Red Raiders.
Dante Preciado would lose via decision to the 12th ranked wrestler, Zac Funderburk,
Blake Pomajzl would lose via decision to 16th ranked Zach Davis, and
Andrew Null would lose via decision to Chris Paulsen to put the Raiders in a hole 6-14.
Nathan Bauer at the 174 pound class came up big for the Raiders with a win by fall at the 4:47 mark over Nathan Garcia making the score 12-14 in favor of the Chargers.
Bennett Sikkink would win via major decision thanks to a riding time bonus point to give the Raiders back the lead at 16-14 and
D'rell Gist would win a tough decision 7-5 to put the Raiders up 19-14.
The night would end at the 285 pound wight class with
Reid Seelhammer facing Matt Wilke. Wilke would need a pin to win the dual for the Chargers and the match started off fast a furious, something a bit rare for the heavyweight class. Seelhammer seemed to have good control of the match being able to take some shots while warding off Wilke's advances. The second period started very similarly to the first but Wilke shot out of the gates quick and got Seelhammer on his back, inches away from pin and a NWC loss but Seelhammer battled to get out of the tough position and found himself back on all fours, saving the team match. Seelhammer would batt back and actually end the match in an 8-8 tie but Wilke would win via a bonus point for riding time. Although Seelhammer lost, he sealed the win for the Raiders.
"Great team win," commented head coach
Rik Dahl. "Second dual where the young guys have come through. It's nice to come away from a win like that and still have quite a bit to improve. Real proud of Bauer, stepped in a saved the dual. We had a lot of other guys who battled and did not give up bonus points. Proud of the grit that this team is exhibiting."
Match Summary:
| Weight |
Matchup |
Team Score |
| 125 |
Austin Boles (NWC) def. Braedon Clopton, 12-5 |
3-0 |
| 133 |
No. 15 Isiah Lysius (BCU) def. Darian Murphy, by Tech Fall (15-0) |
3-5 |
| 141 |
Cole Mills (NWC) def. Andrew Shea, 6-2 |
6-5 |
| 149 |
No. 12 Zac Funderburk (BCU) def. No. 8 Dante Preciado, 9-2 |
6-8 |
| 157 |
No. 16 Zach Davis (BCU) def. Blake Pomajzl, 7-2 |
6-11 |
| 165 |
No. 7 Chris Paulsen (BCU) def. No. 2 Andrew Null, 9-2 |
6-14 |
| 174 |
Nathan Bauer (NWC) def. Nathan Garcia, by Fall (4:47) |
12-14 |
| 184 |
Bennett Sikkink (NWC) def. Jake Leicht, by Major Decision (10-2) |
16-14 |
| 197 |
No. 9 D'rell Gist (NWC) def. Jeremiah Glise, 7-5 |
19-14 |
| 285 |
Matt Wilke (BCU) def. Reid Seelhammer, 9-8 |
19-17 |
The Red Raiders will continue their first half of the season Saturday at the BVU Open, weather pending. It will be the fourth open tournament the Raiders have entered into so far this season.
