Wrestlers open season at LCCC’s Cowboy Open

The Eagle wrestling team traveled to Laramie, Wyo., for the Cowboy Open tournament last weekend.

The Eagles’ 133-pound wrestler in the Elite Division Dustin Stodola, sophomore of Clarkson, lost in overtime, 6-5, during his first match to Cody Cole, of Western State.

Stodola’s second match was another close bout losing by a single point decision, 4-3.

Chadron State had three wrestlers in the Elite Division’s 149-pound weight class which included Lance Jeffries, sophomore of Loveland, Colo.; Jake Lords, junior of Rexburg, Idaho; and Phillip Bullington, sophomore of Benson, Ariz.

Jeffries lost to Joe Falcone, of Adams State College, in a 6-4 decision. He lost second match 3-1 to Kevin Schmitt, of Adams State.

Lords started with a 18-5 major decision loss to Seiji Hashimoto, unattached. His second match, he lost by technical fall 15-0, to Daniel Kelly, unattached.

149-pound Phillip Bullington’s first match ended by a technical fall loss to Josh Hensley, unattached, 21-2. Bullington defeated Rodney Dollar, of University of Northern Colorado, 7-3 in his second match.

This win advanced Bullington to the third round, which he lost by decision, 10-5 to Jake Milewski, of Northern Colorado.

157-pound Mikah Kadera, junoir of Sheridan, Wyo., lost his first match to Levi Jutila, of CSU-Pueblo, by a decision of 8-4.

Kadera won his second match over Cody Frankum, of Western State, with a 5-3 decision and his third over Jared Cass, of Mesa State, by an 8-3 decision. Kadera lost his fourth match 1-0 to against Abner Cook, of Utah Valley. Cook won third place in the tournament.

For the 165-pound class Briston Brenton, junior of Casper, Wyo., was pinned in 1:14 his first match by Jarret Hoeppner, Air Force Academy. Brenton earned a 12-5 decision over Pat Prentice, of UNC. Brenton lost his third match to Zach Frazier, of Western State, by a 6-3 decision.

Trent Zempel, 174-pound senior of Diamondville, Wyo., won his first round 7-2 over Mike Poulos, of Wyoming. Air Force Academy’s Joe Stafford beat Zempel 6-1 his second match. Zempel won his third round with a 4-2 decision over Monte Schmalhaus, unattached.

Zempel lost his fourth match to University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Matt Duffy’s 10-5 decision.

197-pound Chris Leak, sophomore of Omaha, lost first to L.J. Helbig, of Wyoming, with a 10-3 decision, then to Joe O’Farrell, of Wyoming, with a 2-0 decision.

R.J. Boylan, sophmore of Gillette,Wyo., and Sam Udell, senior of Colorado Springs, Colo., competed in heavy-weights.

Boylan won by 6-3 decision over Jared Eckerson, Air Force Academy, but lost his second match 4-3 to Eric McAlister, of Utah Valley, Utah.

Boylan pinned Kyle Graulus, Western State, in 1:53. Matt McLaughlin won by decision over Boylan by 8-3 in Boylan’s fourth match.

Udell won his first match by decision against Calib Ugli, Air Force Academy, 5-2 but lost his second to Ben Hohensee, of Nebraska-Kearney, 2-1. Udell was then pinned by McLaughlin in 1:42.