7 Cobbers Advance To Day 2 At NCAA Regionals

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (3/01/24)---It was the lucky number seven for the Cobbers on Friday at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional Meet. Concordia had seven wrestlers advance to Saturday after a rollercoaster Day 1.

The Cobbers' two nationally-ranked wrestlers both survived the opening day, but both will have to take difference paths to qualify for nationals.

No.11-ranked Gabe Zierden rolled through his first two matches at 197, posted a milestone victory and will wrestle in the semifinals on Day 2, while No.4-ranked Ty Bisek was upset in the quarterfinals and will have to work his way through the consolation bracket if he wants to grab one of the three national spots at 133.

Zierden scored two bonus-point wins on Friday. He opened with a 9-1 major decision and then collected a pin in the quarterfinals. The win in the quarterfinals was Zierden's 100th career victory as a Cobber. He becomes the 10th wrestler in program history to reach the 100-win mark.         

Bisek, who earned All-American honors last year, scored a tech fall in the opening round. The most dramatic moment of the first day came in the quarterfinals, where he gave up a takedown in the first sudden victory period and lost 9-6.

Bisek responded to the loss by posting a pin in the fourth round of the consolation bracket. He will need to record three wins on Saturday to earn another trip to the national meet.

The other five Cobber survivors from Friday will all have to punch their national ticket through the consolation bracket.

Kie Anderson, Kellen Schauer, Elijah Hunt and Nathaniel Kisgen all advanced to the quarterfinals before losing and then rallying in the consolation bracket.

Anderson went 2-1 on the day at 125 with both of his wins coming via a pin.

Schauer came through with a major decision win in his opening match at 149. He then lost by a major decision in the quarterfinals, before winning by a major decision in his first match in the consolation bracket.

Hunt had one of the best matches of the day for Concordia. It came in his loss in the quarterfinals at 165, where he battled No.3-ranked Cooper Willis all the way to the final whistle before losing 4-2. The two had wrestled two weeks earlier in the Cobbers' dual with the Auggies and Willis won by a 21-6 tech fall.

Hunt responded to the tech fall by recording a tech fall win in the fourth round of the consolation side of the bracket.

Kisgen had the longest road to Saturday. He opened with a tech fall win in the pigtail match and moved on to the quarterfinals with an 11-4 decision. After falling to No.8-ranked to Marcus Orlandoni of Wis.-La Crosse, he kept his national hopes alive with a win in sudden victory over Ben Gilbertson of St. John's.

Ayden Friese pulled off the biggest turnaround of the day for the Cobbers. He lost his opening-round match at 285, but then rattled off three straight wins to advance to Day 2.   

UP NEXT: Concordia's stellar seven will hope to make a run at nationals when they compete in the final day of the Upper Midwest Regional on Saturday, Mar. 2 at 10 a.m.