2 Championships & A Boatload Of Hardware At MSUM Open
MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/03/23)---All-American Ty Bisek and senior Gabe Zierden led Concordia across 8th street and helped the Cobbers return with a boatload of hardware from the MSU Moorhead Dragon Open.
Bisek and Zierden won individual weight class championships and were a part of a group of 12 athletes who all finished in the Top 6 at the meet.
Concordia head coach Quincy Osborn took 22 wrestlers to the Dragon Open, and Bisek and Zierden proved that the Cobbers have one of the top college programs in the area.
Bisek and Zierden only faced Division I and II opponents at the meet and combined to post a perfect 6-0 record, with five of the six victories coming as bonus-point wins.
Bisek went 3-0 at 133 to capture his second title of the year. He started his day with pins over Chase Milligan from DII University of Mary and Sam Spencer, a DII wrestler from St. Cloud State.
Bisek proceeded to post his biggest win of the year in the championship match. Bisek squared off against 2-time DII All-American Reece Barnhardt, who is currently ranked fifth, from the Univ. of Mary and came away with a dominating 5-0 win. The victory was made even sweeter by the fact that Bisek was 0-2 against Barnhardt in the previous two matches between the All-Americans.
Bisek is now 10-1 on the season and 70-12 for his Cobber career.
Zierden was equally impressive on his way to plowing to the title at 197. Like Bisek, he went 3-0 to capture the crown. Zierden recorded all three wins by a major decision. He started with an 11-0 win over Nathan Fury from St. Cloud St. and then dispatched a pair of wrestlers from North Dakota St. in the semifinals and championship bout. Zierden beat Macray Klohs 11-0 and then rolled over Lathan Duda 11-1 to earn the title.
Zierden is 8-0 on the year and has won three weight-class championships.
Nathaniel Kisgen, Mason Swanson, Will Freking, Alex McPhee and Gabe Bellefeuille had the other Top 6 finishes for the Cobbers in the Red Division, which was for the more experienced college wrestlers.
Kisgen went 2-1 on the day and finished third at 184. He had a pin over Diante Taylor of the Univ. of Mary and then posted a 10-2 major decision over Jacob Vaughan in the third-place match.
Swanson and Freking gave Concordia a pair of Top 5 finishes in the heavyweight division. Both wrestlers were competing in their first invite of the season since both athletes were members of the Cobber football team in the fall.
Swanson and Freking both posted 2-2 records for the day. Swanson claimed fourth place, and Freking was fifth.
Concordia had 11 wrestlers take part in the white division, which was for less experienced wrestlers. Aidan Ruddy and Zach Pribyl both earned third-place honors. Ruddy led all CC wrestlers with four wins for the meet. He lost his first match but rattled off four straight victories and was third at 149. Pribyl matched Ruddy's four wins as he went 4-1 to place third at 165.
Freshmen Isaiah Schmitz and Nick Ankeny and sophomore Ethan Lebrija rounded out the Cobber hardware winners. Schmitz went 3-2 and recorded his second straight fifth-place finish. Ankeny was sixth at 157 with a 2-3 record, while Lebrija was sixth at 141 after going 1-3.
UP NEXT: Concordia will compete in its first dual meets of the season when they participate in the Prairie Wolf Duals hosted by Neb. Wesleyan on Saturday, Dec. 16.