SIOUX CITY, Iowa – For some Concordia University wrestlers, the Sioux City Dave Edmonds Open on Saturday (Feb. 2) provided their final opportunity of the 2018-19 season to take the mat. A small group of 10 Bulldogs combined for 14 wins at the event hosted by Morningside. The tournament marked the final one of the regular season for Concordia.
Two days earlier, first-year head coach Levi Calhoun’s squad clinched at least a share of the GPAC dual title with a win at Northwestern. Now 7-0 this season in conference duals, the Bulldogs made Saturday a day of evaluation.
“This was an opportunity for a bunch of guys to get another tournament under their belt and get some final matches in this season,” Calhoun said. “We’re still trying to figure some of the final roster spots for the national qualifier. We had some guys wrestling so we could do some more evaluation. There were several guys fighting for one of those 12 spots at the conference championships.”
Six Bulldogs notched exactly two wins on Saturday: Blake Castillo (165), Gabe Crawford (165), Walker Fisher (174), Tyler Jorgensen (197), Keanu Tom (157) and Jason Watkins (157). Tom competed in a tournament for the first time this season after coming off of knee surgery. Fisher was 2-0 before pulling out of the open as a precautionary measure. Kyle Carey (141) and Dylan Clarke (197) also recorded one victory apiece.
The Bulldogs will shoot for an outright GPAC title next week when they host Morningside (6-1 GPAC) in a dual inside Walz Arena. The action is set to get started at 7 p.m. CST on Feb. 7. Concordia has already earned at least a share of the conference dual championship, a feat the program also achieved in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The Bulldogs will also use the evening to honor their senior class.
Many of the Concordia starters will have had a week off between competitions by the time next Thursday rolls around. Standouts such as nationally-ranked grapplers Deandre Chery (174), Alberto Garcia (133) and Michael Stann (285) were held out of Saturday’s open.