Jenness, Lind Runners-Up at GPAC Championships

Raiders place six top-5 finishers

CRETE, Neb. – Northwestern saw two wrestlers advance to the final round of their respective brackets, as Luke Jenness and Kaleb Lind both went 2-1 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Championships, on the campus of Doane University.

"We're really excited to get Luke back to the national tournament this year," said head coach Rik Dahl. "With his runner up finish, it'll be his fourth time in the national tournament. He lost a tough match in the finals to a top-15 wrestler, so I'm really proud of him but we'll have some work to do."

After receiving a bye in the opening round, Jenness (Sr., Primghar, Iowa) won by medical forfeit in the quarterfinals and then took a 7-5 decision over Concordia's Stephen Duffy. In the championship round between the top two seeds in Jenness and Morningside's Hayden Wempen, Jenness lost a hard-fought 11-7 decision.

As the second-ranked wrestler in the GPAC at 184 pounds, Jenness has earned an automatic berth to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships.

Lind (So. Lindenhurst, Ill.), following a first-round bye, won by decision in the quarterfinals, won a tiebreaker in the semifinals, and lost by technical fall in the championship bout to Bradley Antesberger of Doane.

Three Raider wrestlers placed fourth in their weight classes, as Johnny Burnette (Fr., Spirit Lake, Iowa) and Brody Hoversten (Fr., Alden, Iowa) both dropped their opening round matches and battled to the third-place bouts where Burnette lost a 17-6 major decision and Hoversten was pinned. Pepe Sanchez (So., San Diego, Calif.) won his opening match, lost in the second round, and then rattled off two more wins to reach the third-place match where he fell in a 5-3 decision.

"I'm proud of Johnny and Brody. They wrestled out of their minds. Pepe also wrestled way above his seed," Dahl commented. "We had some heartbreakers as well so it was an up and down tournament, but overall I'm proud of the way we wrestled."

Jake Francksen-Small (So., Merrill, Iowa) was also among top-5 finishers, winning the fifth-place match at 174 pounds.

As a team, the Raiders finished fourth of nine participating teams, earning 76.5 points. Morningside won the team championship with 184 points.

"We finished above where we were supposed to, and this was as good as we looked all year as a team."

Up Next: Jenness, along with other potential at-large qualifiers, will compete at the NAIA Championships on March 3-4, held in Wichita, Kansas.

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Players Mentioned

Jake Francksen-Small: 174; Sophomore

Luke Jenness: 184; Senior

Kaleb Lind: 197; Sophomore

Pepe Sanchez: 197; Sophomore

Johnny Burnette: 141; Freshman

Brody Hoversten: 157; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jake Francksen-Small
: Sophomore
: 174

Luke Jenness
: Senior
: 184

Kaleb Lind
: Sophomore
: 197

Pepe Sanchez
: Sophomore
: 197

Johnny Burnette
: Freshman
: 141

Brody Hoversten
: Freshman
: 157