Rocheter, Mn-
Five community colleges from the Minnesota College Athletic Conference met in Rochester on Sunday, February 11 to compete for the NJCAA North District wrestling crown.
Rochester CTC, Ridgewater College, Minnesota West CTC, Itasca Community College and Northland CTC contested for NJCAA honors and the right to have student-athletes move on to the NJCAA National Championships held on February 23-24 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Complete event results, brackets and individual match scores from today can be found at www.trackwrestling.com.
The overall team scores compiled from the NJCAA North District event finished with RCTC claiming first place at 88.5 points, Northland CTC narrowly edging out Itasca to finish second at 51.5 points (compared to the Vikings 50.5), the Ridgewater Warriors claiming fourth at 42.5 points and Minnesota West CTC fifth with 23.0 points on the day.
At the 125 lb. weight category, Noah Bauer of RCTC captured 1st place with a pair of wins, Lucas Hagel of Ridgewater placed second at 1-1 while Minnesota West CTC's Hser Eh Pwae finished third for the Blue Jays.
Tanner Reetz claimed the the 133 lb. level with two wins; Reetz defeated Hser Moo Pwae of Minnesota West and Parker Huss of Rochester CTC to go 2-0 on the day. Huss finished second by virtue of a Round 1 win over Pwae. Pwae claimed third place for Minnesota West.
A strong 141 lb. weight division saw Auston Hall outlast both Rashidi Kikopa of Northland CTC and Ben Johnson of Itasca to claim the title. Kikopa took second place honors with a 1-1 record while Johnson stood third for Itasca.
Ridgewater College's Mark Voss was the 149 lb. division champion; Voss defeated Kyle Fowler of Northland and Sam Naddy of Itasca for a pair of wins and the division title.
A four-man 157 lb. MCAC field saw Rochester CTC's Alfred Daniel climb to the top of the podium, with wins over Rees Lehman (Northland) and Wallace Michels (Minnesota West). Ethan Kiehm (Itasca) claimed 3rd place and Michels took 2nd at 157.
Richard Dralu captured a first place finish for Northland CTC in the 165 lb. category. Dralu defeated Michael Press of Minnesota West and Ridgewater's Augustus Siaway en route to the championship. Elijah Hollins of Rochester CTC recovered from an opening round defeat to finish in third place while Siaway claimed second in the division.
The 174 lb. division was won by Shane Siewart of Rochester. Wins over David Cullen (Ridgewater) and Dylan Kislia (Itasca Community College) gave Siewart a run to the championship while Kislia captured second place and Devonte Ryan (Northland) finished 3rd.
Hunter Roller (Northland) was the 184 lb. champion with wins over Markus Mehr (Ridgewater) and Zach Moon (Rochester CTC). Moon finished in 2nd pace, King Saenz of Minnesota West took 3rd for the day.
Cory Schmidt of Itasca Community College earned the 197 lb. championship with a dramatic win over RCTC's Mason Hawkins in the first place match. Jareth Hoernemann of Ridgewater College took third and Northland's Ryan Ford finished in fourth.
The final weight class, 285 lbs., saw RCTC's Luis Pinto earn the first place hardware with a championship victory over Nathan Hellman of Ridgewater College. Northland's Desmond Bradford took third place, Hunter Koski of Itasca earned fourth and Austin Pulse from Minnesota West CTC finished in fifth place.
For more on the MCAC wrestling season wrap up and information on the student-athletes moving on to the National tournament, stay tuned to www.mcacsports.org and our social media feeds at Twitter and Facebook.
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About the Minnesota College Athletic Conference
The Minnesota College Athletic Conference is the organizational body for NJCAA-affiliated two-year technical and community college athletic programs in the Minnesota State system. The mission of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference is to advance intercollegiate athletics by providing an engaging and supportive environment for success of our student athletes and competition among member institutions. The MCAC is committed to the guiding principles of encouraging the development and success of student athletes, promoting the integrity, honesty and loyalty to member schools as well as upholding the sustainability of conference athletic programs.