Wins Over Top 25 Teams Secure Spot In Semifinals

FT. WAYNE, Ind. (1/09/15)—No.4-ranked Concordia spent Friday cementing its reputation as one of the top 10 teams in the country. The Cobbers won a pair of matches against top 25 teams on the first day of the Mat Mayhem National Duals to advance to the semifinals for the second straight year.           

Concordia raced past No.-18-ranked Johnson & Wales 28-9 in the first match and then edged No.5-ranked Mount Union 18-17 in the quarterfinals. The two wins push Concordia's dual-meet record to 8-3 on the season and set up a date with No.1-ranked Wis.-Whitewater in the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m.

The Cobbers, who finished second at the top dual-meet tournament in the nation last year, won seven individual matches against Johnson & Wales and then six against Mount Union. CC had a quintet of wrestlers win both of their individual matches. Jakob Stageberg, No.6-ranked Jacoby Bergeron, No.5-ranked Jake Krogstad, Sebastian Gardner and Justice Davis all earned two wins on the day.  

Davis had the most dramatic win on the opening day of the national duals. He scored a gut-wrenching 1-0 win at 285 against Mount Union to give the Cobbers three team points which turned a 17-15 deficit into an 18-17 victory.

The other key win in the match against the Purple Raiders came at 149 where Concordia junior Yonas Gebreab upset No.10-ranked Ben Kazimir 7-5 in overtime. Kazimir was 17-1 entering the match and Gebreab proceeded to go toe-to-toe and come away with a huge takedown in overtime.

Concordia won three of the first four individual bouts with Mount Union and eventually took a 15-7 lead after Gardner's 7-1 decision at 174. For Gardner it was his 10th straight victory and 16th overall of the season.

The Cobbers then saw their eight-point lead vanish after a major decision and pin fall. That set the stage for Davis' last match heroics. The one-point win gives Davis 19 wins on the year and he is one victory shy of becoming the third CC wrestler to reach the 20-win mark for the year.

Stageberg and Bergeron are the other 20-match winners for Concordia and both had dominant opening days at the tournament. Stageberg earned an 8-3 win in the first match and then posted a 7-2 victory against the Purple Raiders. Stageberg has now won six straight matches and his ability to get points at 125 has helped the Cobbers gain the momentum at the start of their latest dual meets. Stageberg is now 21-8 for the year.

Bergeron, who earned All-American honors last year, leads the team with 24 wins and he has won 13 straight matches at 141 after the two wins in Indiana. Bergeron won 6-2 in both of his matches on Friday.

Krogstad got back to his winning ways with a pair of victories at 165. He came up with a 9-5 decision in his first match and then won 9-3 against Mount Union. Krogstad is now 11-8 this season.

Concordia's 19-point win over Johnson & Wales was kick-started by the pin fall from Ben Cousins at 157. The Cobbers and Wildcats traded decision wins for the first four bouts of the team dual before Cousins started the CC avalanche with a pin at the 4:41 mark. Concordia then four of the final five matches in the dual. The pin fall was Cousins' third of the season.

Delson Saintal was the other winner for CC against Johnson & Wales. Saintal returned to his 197-lb weight class and earned a 10-7 decision.

Concordia will now face Wis.-Whitewater in the second semifinal of the meet. The Warhawks beat #24 Loras 32-9 in the first round and then bettered Augsburg 24-12 in the quarterfinals. Whitewater is now 9-0 in dual meets this year and has six wrestlers ranked in the top 10 of the nation.