STORM LAKE, Iowa – The Northwestern College wrestling team (1-0, 0-0 GPAC) picked up a victory in their first dual of the season over the Beavers of Buena Vista University (0-1, 0-0 A-R-C) out of the American Rivers Conference in Storm Lake, Iowa Wednesday evening.
“I’m proud of the way our young team battled tonight. We got the first takedown in seven of the ten matches,” said head coach Rik Dahl. “I liked the way we focused action and got a lead in a lot of the matches. It was good to beat Buena Vista and get that first win under our belt!”
Buena Vista picked up the win out of the gates at 125 to take an early 5-0 lead with a technical fall victory, but Manny Jaramillo (Jr., Selma, Calif./Selma) at 133 would take a 10-4 decision to cut into the Beaver lead to 5-3. After that the two teams would trade decisions as the Beavers would take an 8-3 advantage taking a 7-3 decision at 141.
Erik Rodriguez (Fr., Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) would pick up the second Raider decision of the night (7-3) over Buena Vista’s Kayden Kolthoff to put the Raiders down two in the team score, 8-6. The win marked Rodriguez’s first collegiate victory, as Coach Dahl notes, “Congrats to Erik on getting his first collegiate win, always fun to celebrate with the guys!”
Immediately following Rodriguez’s match, Breckin Sperling (Fr., Lincoln, Neb./East) would dominate the first two periods against BVU’s Jacob Hanssen at 157lbs., leading to a major decision. The victory gave the Raiders their first lead of the evening at 10-8.
Buena Vista would take the 13-10 decision at 165lbs. to retake the lead (11-10) as Jakob Francksen-Small (Fr., Merrill, Iowa/Le Mars Community) took to the mat for the 174lbs. matchup. Holding a 2-0 lead after two periods, BVU’s Caleb Rojas battled back in the third period but Francksen-Small picked up the sudden victory win 3-2 to give the Raiders the lead again at 13-11 heading into the final three matches of the evening.
Luke Jenness battled Buena Vista’s Diego Escarcega at 184lbs. and would pick up the fall victory at 4:15. Tyler Zeimen (Jr., Cherokee, Iowa/Washington) followed Jenness, recording back-to-back fall victories for the Raiders, pinning the Beavers’ Jesus Ceja in 41 seconds to secure the Northwestern victory (25-11).
In the heavyweight bout, Lincoln Siebert (Fr., Burns, Wyo./Burns) took on BVU’s Errol Alden, Siebert would pick up the sudden victory win with a takedown to end the meet.
“We need to do a better job of building a lead and getting the match out of reach,” Dahl concluded after the match. “When you let guys hang around in matches, that’s exhausting and gives them a reason to fight.”
Up Next: The Raiders will compete at the Grand View Open in Des Moines, Iowa this Saturday, November 13. Follow along on trackwrestling.com.
