Eagles sweep Plainsmen

CSC men’s wrestling team took down Northeastern Junior College for its first dual of the season, 43-0, winning all of Monday night’s matches with five pins in the Chicoine Center.

“They’re out there and when the other team doesn’t score and doesn’t win a match, including the extra matches, obviously that’s exciting to see that,” Brett Hunter, head men’s wrestling coach, said. “I’m excited where they are at right now. We know where their shape is, we know where the technique is.”

Two of the ten dual matches and three of the four exhibition matches were won with pins by the Eagles.

Dean Neff, redshirt freshman of Jefferson, Wisconsin, started off his second year as an Eagle in the varsity 165-pound weight class and pinned Plainsman Vince Beeson, freshman of Broomfield, Colorado, at the last second of the first period.

“It was good because it was my first varsity start,” Neff said. “It’s just nice feeling that all the work you put in is starting to pay off and starting to show.”

He said that he also felt Coach Hunter did a great job on preparing the entire team for the first dual.

All three of the 285-pound weight class bouts, varsity and exhibitions, were won by falls. Mason Watt, redshirt junior of Broomfield, Colorado, pinned his opponent Riley Butt, freshman of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, with 13 seconds left in the second period, earning six points for the Eagles, and finishing the team’s sweeping win over the Plainsmen.

“He’s (Watt) just one of those guys that continues to work hard,” Hunter said. “We knew we would have an opportunity to turn the guy and obviously he did that and got the pin.”

Gavin Peitzmeier, redshirt sophomore of Omaha, and Terry Winstead, redshirt junior of Harrah, Oklahoma, pinned the same wrestler, Austin Garcia, freshman of Sterling, Colorado, in their heavyweight exhibition matches. Peitzmeier pinned Garcia in 1:28 and Winstead finished his match at 1:33.

Ethan Leake, redshirt sophomore of Clois, California, was the first match up of the night in the 141-weight class exhibition against Kross Pollacia, freshman of Evergreen, Colorado, who he pinned just shy of two minutes.

Hunter said that people want excitement during duals, they want our guys trying to score points and overall, the wrestlers did that.

Eli Hinojosa, redshirt junior of Imperial, earned 10 points by the end of the first period with five take downs during the 197-weight class. He continued building the point gap with two more take downs in the second period along with a reversal and a take down in the third. Hinojosa finished out his match with a point for riding time and had a major decision win over Kordell Culhane, freshman of Fort Collins, Colorado, 19-7.

Chance Bockenstedt, freshman of Polk, Iowa, made his debut as an Eagle in the 149-pound weight class against Riley Bornhoft, freshman of Sterling, Colorado, and took his first college match with a major decision, 19-10.

CSC’s men’s wrestling team travels for the Colorado School of Mines Amateur Open, starting at 9 a.m., Sunday in Golden.