SIOUX CITY, Iowa – It was one up and one down for the Concordia University Wrestling team, which joined the rest of the conference at The Arena Sports Academy on Wednesday (Dec. 1) for a showcase event in Sioux City, Iowa. The Bulldogs opened the night with a 32-13 win over Dakota Wesleyan before dropping a 26-8 decision at the hands of Morningside. Each of the nine GPAC wrestling programs competed in at least one dual.
Head Coach Myron Bradbury’s squad is now 1-2 in conference duals. Concordia also took on Hastings at home on Nov. 11.
“Overall, I think we improved our competitiveness,” Bradbury said. “I think they’re giving effort, and I think we have a lot of work to do. We lost a lot of matches in the last 30 seconds (against Morningside). We can’t let that slide.”
A highlight from the team win over Dakota Wesleyan was a 21-6 tech fall produced by Jeaven Scdoris at 149. Mario Ybarra also won by decision at 133 and the Bulldogs were aided by a series of forfeits.
Both teams filled all 10 weight classes in the second battle of the night. Morningside won eight of the 10 matches with Concordia victories coming via TJ Huber (decision) at 174 and Jacob Telles (pin) at 285. The margins were exceptionally slim in most cases as the Bulldogs lost separate individual matches by scores of 3-1, 1-0, 2-1, 14-12 and 5-4. In other words, the dual was much more competitive than the team scoring indicated. Only two Mustang wins came with bonus points (major decisions at 125 and 141).
Recently named GPAC Wrestler of the Week, NAIA ninth-ranked 133-pounder Mario Ybarra was upended by an opponent he had defeated at the Younes Hospitality Open. Morningside’s Taylor Vasquez (ranked 14th in the NAIA) clipped Ybarra, 3-1. Anthony Perez (157), Jose Sanchez (165), Huber (174), Jovon Howe (184) and Mason Garcia (197) also each lost by margins of either one or two points.
A select group of Bulldogs will be in action on Saturday at the Doane University Open, which will be staged inside Fuhrer Fieldhouse in Crete. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. CT. The next Concordia dual is slated for Dec. 9 with Midland set to be in Seward on that date.