Kearney, Neb. – The fourth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team went 2-1 on the first day of the 2016 Division II National Duals in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The Lopers (6-3) beat two Ohio schools, 14th-ranked Tiffin (
25-15) and eighth-ranked Findlay (
23-15), while falling to fifth-ranked Wisconsin-Parkside,
26-9, in the quarterfinals.
UNK will wrestle twice on Friday, first against sixth-ranked Mercyhurst (Pa.) at 8:00 a.m. Central. The Lopers will then wrestle for either fifth or seventh place at 1:00 p.m. Central vs. eighth-ranked McKendree (Ill.) or Upper Iowa.
Against the Tiffin Dragons, the Lopers got out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back.True freshman and 11th-ranked Vlad Kazakov (Loveland, Colo.) had a fall at 4:02 with junior and second-ranked
Bryce Shoemaker recording a 21-6 teach fall at 133 pounds.
Later, sixth-ranked heavyweight
Kevin Barrett (Baltimore) used a takedown to upset second-ranked Garrett Gray, 4-2, in the first tie-breaking period.
Shoemaker (Baldwin City, Kan.) also won against the UWP Rangers, besting Airk Furseth by a 7-1 score. However, 12th-ranked Brett Scoles recorded a takedown with 18 seconds left to beat top-ranked
Destin McCauley (North Sioux City, S.D.), 5-4, at 157 pounds. Two matches later, top-ranked Nick Becker used four takedowns to beat fourth-ranked
Calvin Ochs, 10-6, at 174 pounds.
McCauley bounced back with a 3-1 victory over 10th-ranked Joey White of Findlay. The key takedown came with only three seconds left in the opening period. Finally, Shoemaker won by an 11-2 score against his UF Oiler with Ochs (Hoxie, Kans.) suffering an overtime loss to seventh-ranked Bradley Metz, 6-4.
