Eagles wrestle in two places

The men’s wrestling team competed at two different locations, the first against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Thursday, and another at the Dakota Wesleyan Open, in Mitchell, South Dakota, Saturday.

Facing off against the Huskers, the Eagles only won two of the 10 duals to take their first loss of the season, 31-9.

“Wrestling a Division I power like Nebraska, it was encouraging to see our guys wrestle hard,” Brett Hunter, head men’s wrestling coach, said. “The effort was there and that’s probably what I’m most excited for moving forward is the effort. I thought they did a good job with that.”

Quade Smith, freshman of Layton, Utah, pinned his Husker opponent Jeremiah Reno, freshman of Kansas City, Missouri, in the third period to start the day strong for the Eagles, scoring six team points.

“When the ref called the pin, I was super excited that I had beat the kid more than anything,” Smith said. “It made me feel more confident in my abilities to help this team succeed and made me feel good about my potential to come.”

Smith received the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Week honors due to his strong performance against Reno.

Adding three more points for the Eagles was Eli Hinojosa, redshirt junior of Imperial, who wrestled for a decision win, 6-2.

The closest Eagle to taking his match was Darwin Hull, freshman of Schertz, Texas, who took a decision loss by one point to Tahjae Jenkins-Harris, freshman of North Las Vegas, Nevada, 5-4.

Three of the six wrestlers who traveled to Mitchell, South Dakota, split their matches and finished the Dakota Wesleyan Open in the quarterfinals.

Hunter said that because of some confusion, and thinking their wrestlers had an extra pound when in the end they didn’t, put wrestlers in a different weight class than what they should’ve been in.

“Honestly, I thought they wrestled well, obviously we hoped that they would’ve placed but they’re there to get matches and I think that’s what they did,” he said. “The biggest thing for those guys is to continue to get matches in, so we’re sending guys all over the place every week just to get matches in.”

In the 149-pound bracket, Ethan Leake, redshirt sophomore of Clovis, California, started off his day with two decision wins, 13-6 in his first dual and 11-9 in his second. He finished the tournament 2-2 with a technical fall and a decision loss.

The other two Eagles to have a 2-2 record at the tournament were both in the 285-pound weight class, Terry Winstead, redshirt junior of Harrah, Oklahoma, and Gavin Peitzmeier, redshirt sophomore of Omaha.

Winstead pinned his first opponent a minute and 14 seconds into the match before moving onto his next match to take a major decision win, 9-0. He was then pinned in 24 seconds in his third dual and took a decision loss to Fort Hays State University’s Tony Caldwell, freshman of Wichita, Kansas, in his last match, 9-4.

Peitzmeier started his day with a tie breaker win, 6-3, and his second match was a decision win, 3-1. He then went up against two Southwest Minnesota State University wrestlers and was pinned by Jacob Dykes, junior of Iowa City, Iowa, in his third dual at 1:41 and took a major decision loss to Neil Hanson, senior of Milaca, Minnesota, 11-3.

After the busy weekend, CSC men’s wrestling team continues its schedule for the Holiday Inn Open in Kearney, at 8 a.m., Saturday.