A Feast Of Top 5 Finishes

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/18/17)---Concordia celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday five days early by having a feats of Top 5 finishes at the annual Finn Grinaker Cobber Open.

The Cobbers recorded 13 Top 5 finishes and five Top 3 marks at the home invitational named after the former Hall of Fame Cobber wrestling coach.

The meet, which featured athletes wrestlers from over 10 schools and over 100 wrestlers, was separated into two classifications. The veteran wrestlers competed in the gold division while the newcomers squared off on the maroon division.

Concordia had six wrestlers finish in the Top 5 in the gold division and had seven others post Top 5 finishes in the maroon division.

Freshman Ethan Kimber had the top finish of the meet by a Cobber wrestler. He placed second in the 197-lb bracket in the maroon division. He earned pin falls in his first two matches of the day and then lost a close 8-5 decision in the championship match.

Jake Nohre, Ben Baumgartner, Tony Struntz and Bryce Kallenbach had the other Top 3 finishes for the Cobbers.

Nohre, who is a freshman but wrestled in the gold division, went 2-2 on the day on his way to finishing third at 125.

Baumgartner posted his second straight Top 3 finish at a multi-team invitational. He took third place in the 149-lb division in the gold bracket. He went 3-1 and is now 6-2 in open tournaments this year.

Freshmen Struntz and Kallenbach earned their third-place finishes in the maroon division. Struntz led Concordia in wins on the day as he went 4-1 on his way to third place at 157. Struntz earned three of his wins against Division II wrestlers from St. Cloud State and MSU Moorhead.

Kallenbach scored the first Top 3, and second straight Top 5, finish at a collegiate open meet after placing third at 285 on Saturday. He went 3-2 for the meet and claimed a major decision in the third-place bout after recording two wins by decision in early matches.

Jacob Johnson and Jonah Lange were the other two Cobber wrestlers with more than two wins on the day. Johnson went 3-2 and placed fourth at 174 in the old division while Lange was also 3-2 and placed fifth in the gold division at 184.     

COBBER RESULTS BY WEIGHT CLASS
125: Jake Nohre 2-2, third place (gold)
133: Aaron Dick 2-2, fifth place (gold)
141: Adam Presler 0-2 (gold)
149: Ty Johnson 2-2, fifth place (gold); Ben Baumgartner 3-1, third place (gold); Alex Skaare 2-2, fifth place (maroon), Keaton Long 3-2, fourth place (maroon)
157: Tony Struntz 4-1, third place (maroon); Patrick Griffin 2-2, fourth place (maroon)  
165: Travis Deegan 0-2 (gold); Travis Ostby 1-2
174: Jacob Johnson 3-2, fourth place (gold)
184: Jonah Lange 3-2, fifth place (gold); Collin Dolejs 1-3 (gold)
197: Kody Van Den Eykel 2-2, fourth place (gold); Ethan Kimber 2-1, second place (maroon)
285: Bryce Kallenbach 3-2, third place (maroon)
  
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will have an 11-day break for Thanksgiving before heading out west and squaring off against the University of Mary in a dual meet on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.