National Learning Curve Grows At NWCA National Duals
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (01/06/22)---Concordia continued their national-level learning curve at the NWCA National Duals meet. The Cobbers went 1-2 with both losses coming to teams ranked in the Top 10 of Division III.
Concordia started the meet by dropping a 22-18, nail-biting decision to No.3-ranked Wabash (Ind.). CC led the Little Giants 18-16 with two individual matches left in the contest, but a pair of close decision wins by Wabash sent the Cobbers to a 4-point loss.
The Cobber rebounded in the opening round on the consolation side of the bracket by rolling over Dubuque 31-6. CC won eight of the final nine individual bouts against the Spartans, including a trio of technical fall wins.
Concordia ran out of gas in their second-round consolation match against No.10 Johnson & Wales (R.I.). CC won two of the first four matches against the Wildcats to bring the score to 8-6, but then Johnson & Wales rattled off six straight victories to post the 33-6 decision.
Freshman Ty Bisek was the only Concordia wrestler to post an unblemished record on the day. He went 3-0 with a pin and a pair of decision wins at 133. Bisek recorded a pin at 2:52 of his opening match against Andrew Sinkovics of Wabash. He then won 9-2 over Carson Sauriol of Dubuque and ground out a 12-10 win against Gabriel Leo-Esparolini of Johnson & Wales.
Bisek has won eight of his last nine matches and is 15-3 on the season. His 15 wins are team high.
Kellen Schauer (149), Kaden Spindler (174) and Ayden Friese (184) all recorded a pair of wins at the meet. Schauer's only loss came against No.10-ranked Alex Barr of Wabash in the opener. He responded with a 5-3 decision over Luke Radeke of Dubuque and then capped off his day with a 4-3 win over Thomas DiResta of Johnson & Wales.
Schauer is now 9-7 on the season.
Spindler came through with the only other win for CC against Wabash. He scored a 4-2 win over Raymond Arebalo. Spindler then made it two straight wins with a 20-2 technical fall cruise against Julius Boimah of Dubuque. Like Schauer, Spindler's only loss on the day came at the hands of nationally-ranked wrestler. He lost to No.6-ranked Michael Ross of Johnson & Wales.
The two wins pushes Spindler's season record to 10-8 on the year.
Friese followed the theme set by Schauer and Spindler as he went 2-1 with his only loss coming against a Top 10 opponent. Friese was involved in the closest match of the day for a Cobber in his opening bout against Charles Baczek of Wabash. Friese prevailed 3-2 in the second tie-breaker period. He then put up his second decision win with a 7-2 victory over Jaymoreye Gonzales of Dubuque. The only loss for Friese was against No.8-ranked Ryan DeVivo of Johnson & Wales.
Like Spindler, Friese has now upped his season win total into double digits. He is 10-9 and the fourth member of CC to have at least 10 wins for the season.
The best 1-2 wrestler of the entire tournament was Cobber heavyweight Chase Dockter. He lost a narrow 3-0 decision against Max Bishop of Wabash who is the No.1 heavyweight in the nation. Dockter's other loss on the day came in the first sudden victory period against No.8-ranked Liridon Leka of Johnson & Wales.
UP NEXT: Concordia will participate in its first multi-team invitational meet since Dec. 5 when they compete at the Cliff Keen/Mike Dunroe Invite on Saturday, Jan. 15 at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Individual Match Results:
125 - Justin Lopez (JWU) maj. dec. Cole Kubesh (CC); 15-3 (JWU leads 4-0)
133 - Ty Bisek (CC) dec. Gabriel Leo-Esparolini (JWU); 12-10 (JWU leads 4-3)
141 - #6 Hayden Brown (JWU) maj. dec. Jacob Prunty (CC); 11-1 (JWU leads 8-3)
149 - Kellen Schauer (CC) dec. Thomas DiResta (JWU); 4-3 (JWU leads 8-6)
157 - Darius Joyce (JWU) dec. Tyler Bents (CC); 6-3 (JWU leads 11-6)
165 - Robert Garcia (JWU) pin Bret Wilson (CC); 5:17 (JWU leads 17-6)
174 - #6 Michael Ross (JWU) tech. fall Kaden Spindler (CC); 16-0 (JWU leads 22-6)
184 - #8 Ryan DeVivo (JWU) tech. fall Ayden Friese (CC); 16-1 (JWU leads 27-6)
197 - Dylan Harr (JWU) pin #4 Gabe Zierden (CC); 2:50 (JWU leads 33-6)
285 - #8 Liridon Leka (JWU) dec. Chase Dockter (CC); SV-1 3-1 (JWU wins 33-6)