MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE DUA LDAY - F E B R UA RY 5, 2 02 1
MUSTANG WRESTLING All eyes are on Allee Gymnasium and the Rosen-Verdoorn Sports Center tonight. Morningside College and Doane University square off with the regular-season Great Plains Athletic Conference championship on the line in a top 20 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ dual battle. Head coach Jake Stevenson’s Mustangs, sporting a 12-3 overall and 7-0 league mark, have won four in a row. The visiting Tigers, coached by Dana Vote, stand 14-2 overall and are also 7-0 in loop action and have claimed their last nine duals. DU was ranked in a tie for No. 9, while Mside was tied for the No. 18 spot on the most recent National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics poll, released Jan 21.
THE MATCH- UP The Maroon has captured each of the previous seven meetings in the all-time series. They won 35-9 a year ago in Crete. Two of those clashes were decided by only two points, as Morningside captured narrow 19-17 and 24-22 decisions in 2016-17 and 2015-16. Both sides have several ranked individuals coming in. The Mustangs are led by sophomore 133-pounder Taylor Vasquez (No. 14), sophomore 149-pounder John Diener (No. 12), freshman 165-pounder Caleb Connor (No. 13), senior 174-pounder Jonah Egli (No. 9), and freshman Kasten Grape (No. 14). Doane has 125-pounder Daniel Vargas (No. 11), 141-pounder Baterdene Boldmaa (No. 1), 149-pounder Tristan Zampila (No. 15), 174-pounder Michael Scarponi (No. 14), 197-pounder Bradley Antesberger (No. 12), and heavyweight Brandon Antesberger (No. 8). There are few previous individual meetings this season among any potential match-ups, as Brandon Antesberger defeated both Jakob Jerabek and Derrell Zagurski in nip-and-tuck finishes
earlier (4-2 vs. Jerbaek and 3-0 vs. Zagurski). At the same time, Kaimana McCreadie and Grape have both faced Bradley Antesberger. McCreadie felled him 8-0 for his first win of the season, while Grape dropped an 8-6 nailbiter. Sophomore 141-pounder Noah Styskal and Diener share Morningside’s wrestling room wins lead with 17 each. Styskal harbors a nine-match victory string, while Diener has claimed 14 straight. Egli, with a 13-1 mark, has an impressive 12-match triumph skein in process. He’s done so without any doubt, either, as 10 of the run have been bonus-point efforts, including seven pins. Twenty-nine victories in 32 individual matches gave Stevenson’s squad three more dual positives Jan 30. Moving to 13-1 in its last 14 conference match-ups, the team rampaged through Northwestern College’s Bultman Center with a 38-9 win over the league dual tourney section host Red Raiders and blanked Midland University and Dakota Wesleyan University by 57-0 and 54-0 scores. A quartet of individuals led the way. Styskal captured a technical fall, decision, and forfeit. Diener picked up two forfeit triumphs and a thrilling triple overtime decision against NWC’s Chase Peterson. In his first varsity full-meet starting opportunity, freshman 157-pounder Kory Van Oort made the most of it, picking up a technical fall, fall, and decision, which included a 1-0 whiteknuckler against Northwestern’s Blake Pomajzl. Grape registered a decision, forfeit, and technical fall to add his name to the threewin group, too. His decision was a back and forth effort against NWC veteran Bennett Sikkink that wound up 7-4. Doane posted a monumental day on the mat on Jan 30, as they went 4-0 at the GPAC Duals University of Jamestown section. With the wins, the Tigers broke the school record for victories in a season. For the day, DU received 4-0 marks from Boldmaa, Scarponi, 184-pounder Garrett Cornwell and Bradley Antesberger. Zampila and Vargas were also unbeaten, going 3-0. Morningside and Doane take a brief trip up the hill to the Hindman-Hobbs Center Saturday, Feb 6. They’re both among the field for the Dave Edmonds/Sioux City Open. The meet begins at 9 a.m.