Photo by Elenna Koenig | The Doane Owl
Doane Men’s Wrestling clinches the GPAC title with their win over Concordia, winning 44-8. Their next match is in Seward, Nebraska, for the GPAC Championships.
The Men’s Wrestling team clinched the regular season Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship at home on February 3 against Concordia University. Doane had the opportunity to claim the title for the third time in four years as they came into the match undefeated.
The dual kicked off at 125, with senior Nathan Rizek up first to the mat for Doane. Rizek needed just one takedown against his opponent before easily securing the pin in just 53 seconds. Concordia would not go down easily and bounced back at 133, defeating junior Russel Nickerson.
Sophomore Benjamin Miller controls his opponent and makes a move to secure the win.
The Bulldogs continued to rack up points at 141, defeating sophomore Tristen Brown which gave Concordia an 8-6 lead. The Tigers bounced back at 149 thanks to sophomore Nate Lendt, who picked up the pin in 1:06.
The longest match of the night was at 157 courtesy of sophomore Benjamin Miller. After three periods of back-and-forth, Miller would secure the win of 15-11. Sophomore Cooper Spaulding was up next at 165, and just seconds into the second period, Spaulding grabbed the pin.
Senior Michael Scarponi hit the mat for 174, adding another second period pin to increase the Tigers’ lead over Concordia. Sophomore Tyson Beauperthuy added the third pin in a row for Doane at 184.
In the final two matches, Doane continued to dominate the Bulldogs. Junior Bradley Antesberger added a huge tech fall win at 197 of 21-5. Freshman Eli Criblez closed things out with another pin in the heavyweight division, giving the Tigers a win of 44-8. The Men’s Wrestling team will be in Seward, Nebraska on February 16 and 17 to compete in the GPAC Championships.