ALEX ELLER
ellerag@lopers.unk.edu
For the second time thisseason, UNK wrestling found themselves on the wrong side of a dual against Central Oklahoma. Back to back pins and a forfeit propelled the Bronchos to a 24-17 victory at the Health and Sports Center Saturday.
“Having talked to the team themselves, it’s just inconsistent right now,” UNK coach Dalton Jensen said. “There are some guys you are very pleased with and had great performances like a Matt Malcom and a Jonathan Killingsworth. Then there are guys you know where maybe this wasn’t there best performance and then there were just a couple of guys who got outwrestled or just got caught in a bad situation today.”
With the dual loss, the chance for three MIAA titles in a row is out of the picture for the Lopers.
UNK started in the hole, forfeiting the 125-pound match to Studd Morris of UCO. No.1 Josh Portillo (Clarion, IA) was still recovering from an injury he sustained at the Midwest Duals on Jan. 25.
“He will be good moving forward,” Jensen said. “There is a little bit of you wish you would have wrestled him. He could have wrestled tonight, and I have no doubt in my mind he could have beat that guy and won us the dual. We just have a bigger focus than a conference title right now.”
In the first two matches of the dual, No. 4 Wesley Dawkins (Lincoln) and Killingsworth (Lincoln) wiped away the Bronchos six-point advantage. Dawkins at 133 won 7-2 over Cody Karstetter and Killingsworth at 141 stayed in control on top against Mitchell Lance to earn a 4-1 decision.
Sam Turner (Colorado Springs, CO) and Brick Flippo went back and forth in their bout at 149. In the end, it was Flippo who scored two takedowns to secure the 4-2 decision.
It was a defensive battle at the 157-pound weight class. Jacob Wasser (Kintnersville, PA) held Zachary Moore scoreless in a 3-0 victory.
The Lopers most dominating performance of the night was put forth by Malcom at 165. He wasted no time getting a takedown on Anthony Des Vigne. From there Malcom kept collecting near fall points and ended up tech falling Des Vigne 16-0.
Going into the 174-pound matchup the Lopers held a five-point lead at 14-9.
In the next match, Tre’ Vaughn Craig used his length over Talon Seitz (Hilton Head, SC) to get two takedowns and an escape in a 5-2 decision.
The complete trajectory of the dual changed at the 184- and 197-pound weight classes.
At 184 pounds it was a rematch from earlier in the season between No.1 Heath Gray of UCO and No.4 Anthony Mancini (Middletown, DE) of UNK. The last time they met, Gray won by sudden victory 3-1.
This time around it was not near as close, as Gray got Mancini into a bad position early and picked up a pin 1:56 into the match.
Following suit at 197 for the Bronchos was Kalin Winkler who pinned Andrew Demos (Lake Villa, IL) at the 1:37 mark in the first period.
The Lopers went from having a 14-12 lead to trailing 24-14 heading into the final match of the day.
“You could probably say that” (Mancini getting pinned at 184) Jensen said. “At the next weight, we were probably beat on paper but not by a pin. So maybe that fall by Gray maybe sparks them a little bit and they get another one.”
At heavyweight, No.5 Jarrod Hinrichs (Geneva) was given all that he could handle by Christian Arriola. Both wrestlers traded off earning an escape point in periods two and three, but it was a stalling call on Arriola with less than 30 seconds left in the match that helped Hinrichs win 2-1.
Next up for UNK, is a home dual against Newman University at Kearney High School at 7 p.m. Thursday.
