Well Worth The Miles

ELMHURST, Ill. (1/14/23)--- It was a 629-mile road trip to Illinois for the Cobbers in their first multi-team invitational of 2023, but the results were well worth the bus miles. Concordia had eight wrestlers post Top 6 finishes at the Elmhurst Al Hanke Invitational which helped the team place second in the 18-team meet.

Sophomore Ty Bisek led the charge for the Cobbers. He won all five of his matches and claimed the title in the 133-lb weight class. Bisek breezed through his first three matches with a pair of pins and a tech fall win. His closest match of the day came in the semifinals where he outlasted Dominik Mallinder of Wis.-Whitewater in a 3-1 decision. Bisek advanced to the championship bout where he beat Tuvsin Zunnbayan of Harper College (Ill.).

The five wins give Bisek a team-leading 19 for the season, and ups his overall record to 19-1 on the year.

Concordia had three athletes record 4th-place finishes. Jacob Prunty, Alex Rapelje and Gabe Zierden all came through with multiple-win invites and finished in the Top 5.

Prunty's 4th-place finish at 149 was probably the most impressive out of the trio. Prunty came up with the win of the day for CC when he upset No.2-ranked Ryan Fleck of the Univ. of Chicago in the second round. Prunty earned the win in the first period of sudden victory with a takedown which gave him a thrilling 15-13 victory.

Prunty finished the day with a 4-2 mark and is now 16-7 for the season.

Rapelje, who is the newest member of the Cobbers after joining the team for the second semester, went 3-1 at 174 to claim his 4th-place finish. He posted bonus-point wins in his first two college matches, and then won 4-3 in the quarterfinals. His championship hopes were stopped by No.3-ranked Seth Brossard of Wis.- La Crosse.    

Zierden cruised through his first three matches at 197 with a tech fall and then two pins. He lost in the semifinals to Peyton Smith of Concordia (Wis.), before ending his day with a no contest and medical forfeit in the 3rd-place match.

Tyler Bents, Kie Anderson, Ayden Friese and Connor Chloupek were the other four members of the Cobbers to finish in the Top 6 if their weight classes. Bents was fifth at 157 after going 4-1 on the day. He is now 11-4 for the year.

Anderson, Friese and Chloupek all recorded 6th-place finishes. Anderson went 3-3 at 125. His three wins are the first of his college career.

Friese and Chloupek both went 2-2 on the day. Friese was sixth at 174 with major decision and decision wins. Chloupek had a pin on his trek to sixth place at 184.

UP NEXT: Concordia will continue with multi-team invitational meets when they travel to Collegeville to participate in the North Country Open on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m.

Al Hanke Invitational Final Team Standings
1. UW LaCrosse - 193.5
2. Concordia MN - 110.0
3. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater - 103.5
4. University of Chicago - 89.5
5. Stevens Point - 70.5
6. Harper College - 54.5
7. North Central College - 53.0
8. Elmhurst University - 49.0
9. Concordia University - 45.0
10. Wheaton College - 45.0
11. Eureka College - 43.0
12. Millikin University - 36.5
13. Carthage College - 24.5
14. Milwaukee School of Engineering - 22.0
15. Joliet Junior College - 12.0
16. Henry Ford - 9.0
17. St John's - 9.0
18. Morton College - 0.0