Hohbein and Schmitz Lead CC At National Duals
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (1/7/12)—No.13-ranked Concordia won its opening match on Saturday but then lost two straight and finished 1-2 at the prestigious NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Tournament held in Springfield, Ill. Daron Hohbein and Nathan Schmitz led the Cobbers, winning two matches and posting identical 2-1 records.
The Cobbers opened the day by beating No.16-ranked Dubuque 22-15. Concordia was then blanked by No.1-ranked Wartburg 36-0 in the quarterfinals and finished the day by falling to No.18-ranked UW-Whitewater 19-15.
Against Dubuque, both teams won five individual matches but it was the two pin falls and one major decision by Concordia that proved to be the difference in the team match. Hohbein, who entered the tournament ranked second at 133, started his day with by gaining a 11-0 major decision. Dubuque then won three straight matches to take a 12-4 lead at the midway point of the match. The Cobbers responded by winning four of the final five matches including pin falls from Josten Coleman at 165 and Cody Kasprick at 285. Schmitz had one of the biggest wins of the opener as he recorded a 6-1 decision over Sam Johnson who was ranked fourth in the nation at 197. Christian Harrison had the other win for CC. He came away with an 11-4 victory at 184.
Concordia showed improvement against the top ranked Knights in the quarterfinals. The teams hooked up in December in Las Vegas and Wartburg posted three pin falls and scored 38 total points. On Saturday CC did not give up a pin fall. Schmitz showed his steady climb into the top 5 of the country. Last month in Las Vegas, he lost by a major decision to the nation's No.1 wrestler Byron Tate. On Saturday he fell in an 8-3 decision.
The final match of the day came down to the last individual match. CC trailed 16-15 but then lost an 11-5 decision and wound up losing 19-15 to Whitewater. Hohbein earned a hard-fought 2-1 decision in overtime over No.7-ranked Jake Fredrickson. Michael Holman, Kyle LeDuc and Jacob Long followed with wins to give CC a 12-3lead but then the Warhawks won four of the final five matches. The only Cobber win during that streak was Schmitz' 8-3 victory.
Concordia will now have a string of six straight individual dual matches. The Cobbers will square off against Jamestown on Wed., Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. in Jamestown.
Quarterfinals - #13 Concordia 0, #1 Wartburg 36
125 - Kenneth Anderson (Wartburg) dec. Ben Presler (Concordia); 5-0
133 - Thomas Mirocha (Wartburg) dec. Daron Hohbein (Concordia); 5-2
141 - Michael Kremer (Wartburg) maj. dec. Michael Holman (Concordia); 9-1
149 - Kodie Silvestri (Wartburg) maj. dec. Kyle LeDuc (Concordia); 11-2
157 - Cameron Wagner (Wartburg) dec. Jacob Long (Concordia); 6-3
165 - Landon Williams (Wartburg) tech fall Josten Coleman (Concordia); 15-0
174 - Bradley Banks (Wartburg) maj. dec. Sebastian Gardner (Concordia); 11-3
184 - Sam Upah (Wartburg) maj. dec. Zach Deffinbaugh (Concordia); 10-1
197 - Byron Tate (Wartburg) dec. Nathan Schmitz (Concordia); 8-3
285 - Ryan Fank (Wartburg) dec. Cody Kasprick (Concordia); 10-7