Wrestlers place against strong competition
Chadron State men’s wrestling team saw four placements against strong competition, Saturday at the Cowboy Open in Laramie, Wyoming.
“We all wrestled tough, everyone showed a lot of effort against such tough competition,” Ethan Leake, redshirt sophomore of Clovis, California, said. “We still got things to work on, but it was good for everyone to get out there and wrestle those tough guys to see where they are at.”
At 197 pounds, Eli Hinojosa, redshirt junior of Imperial, was the second wrestler to finish with a fourth place going 2-2 for the day. Hinojosa took a decision win over his first opponent, 8-3. His following two matches ended with major decisions with Hinojosa losing one, 16-4, and winning the next, 14-3. To finish out his day, he was beat out of third place by Jack Forbes of Utah Valley University, freshman of Littleton, Colorado, by one point for a decision, 5-4.
Leake started his day off strong with wins over his first two opponents in the 141-pound weight class. He pinned his first opponent at 4:30 before taking a decision win over University of Wyoming’s Aidan Noonan, freshman of Bernard, Iowa, 7-2.
He continued to his third match, being pinned at 2:33 by his opponent. Leake faced No. 24 Chase Zollmann, redshirt senior of Poway, California, from University of Wyoming, and Leake finished the day fourth after a decision loss 6-5.
“I think that I wrestled pretty good,” Leake said. “I still have a lot to work on by the end of the season, but it was good to get out there against tough competition and see where we are at, especially this early in the season.”
Competing unattached in 141 weight class, Hunter Gilmore, freshman of Arlington, was another Eagle place winner. He pinned in his first and third matches, 4:24 and 4:07.
In his second match, he took a technical fall loss, 17-1 at five minutes before also facing Zollman in his final match and taking a major decision loss, 15-2 and finishing the meet in fifth.
To finish out the placers for CSC, Rowdy Pfeil, sophomore of Moorcroft, Wyoming, started the meet with a decision win, 6-2, before going up against No. 5 Tyce Raddon, sophomore of Beaver, Utah, of Western Wyoming.
Against Raddon, Pfeil ended the match with a major decision loss, 14-6. He finished out his day in fifth place after being pinned by his last two opponents at 2:39 and 4:14.
The men’s wrestling team have this weekend off before they return to the mats for Chadron State Duals, Saturday, Dec. 11, against the University of Nebraska-Kearney, Augustana University, and San Francisco State University.
Leake said the team will continue to push and keep getting better over the break, using the time to continue to improve and work hard.