Wrestling team brings home 2017 MIAA title
The second-ranked wrestling team placed seven in the finals and scored 98 points to win a fifth straight MIAA Tournament Championship Sunday.
Zach Stodden waits to make his move against FHSU’s Rakim Dean in the 184 lbs. semifinal match on Sunday. Stodden, a sophomore from Broomfield, Colorado, finished second place to help the Lopers capture the MIAA trophy.
Sixth-ranked Central Oklahoma, the MIAA Dual Champions, had three champions and five third place finishers to stage a rally in the final session but ended up three points short.
Lindenwood (59), Hays (56.5), Newman, Kan. (31) and Central Missouri (24.5) rounded out the field.
Winning individuals titles for UNK were juniors Calvin Ochs (165 lbs.) and Keith Surber (149 lbs.). Both were All-Americans at those classes in 2016.
“We dropped a tight dual at UCO so we knew they were going to be tough competition and right on our heels. We maybe have more star power and heavy hitters on our team but they are just solid from top to bottom,” said Loper head coach Dalton Jensen. “They started to chip away on the backside round and that’s where you can score a lot of points. They proved they’ll be a contender come national tournament time.”
“We maybe have more star power and heavy hitters on our team but they are just solid from top to bottom.” -Coach Dalton Jenson
Coming in second place were senior Destin McCauley (157 lbs.), juniors Kevin Barrett (285 lbs.) and Bryce Shoemaker (133 lbs.) and sophomores Isaac Deaton (174 lbs.) and Zach Stodden (184 lbs.).
True freshman Jacob Wasser (141 lbs.) was the Lopers lone third place finisher with true freshman Vlad Kazakov (125 lbs.) fourth.
Finally, each school can bring three non-point scorers and UNK’s trio each placed fourth. They were sophomores Jeff Bizzle (141 lbs.), Seth Harrington (157 lbs.) and Nick Babcock (165 lbs.).
Surber (Sparta, Ill.) needed just 1:50 to win two matches and reach the 149 pound finals. He recorded an 18-0 tech fall over Newman’s Mario Rodriguez and then stuck FHSU’s Jacob Kay in 47 seconds.
In the finals, he avenged an earlier loss to NU’s Tyler Mies in, 8-0. Surber used a take down and a four-point near fall in the second period to score the majority of his points. He has now won seven straight matches to push his season mark to 11-2.
Ochs (Hoxie, Kan.) was just as dominant, recording three majors by a combined score of 32-5 to reach the finals and is now 19-4.
“The two guys I was most impressed with today in terms of performance was Keith and Calvin,” said Jensen. “It’s impressive Keith majored that guy after losing to him. That just shows how smart a wrestler he is; it takes time to adjust to a new weight. Calvin has only had a few matches at 165 and he’s already beaten some top ranked guys.”
Ranked third nationally, Shoemaker (Baldwin City, Kan.) gave up two reversals to LWU’s Hunter Haralson, ranked fifth nationally, to lose 4-2 in the 133 pound final.
At 141 pounds, it was Loper vs. Loper for third place with Wasser (Kintnersville, Pa.) edging Bizzle (Tahlequah, Okla.), 3-0. Wasser, ranked 11th in this class, won his final three matches after an opening round loss.
On Thursday, FHSU redshirt freshman Greg Tooley beat McCauley (North Sioux City, S.D.), 5-1, in the first sudden victory period. It appeared things were headed that away again but Tooley recorded a takedown as the clock was winding down.
UNK heads to the NCAA West Regional the weekend of Feb. 24-25 in Golden, Colorado.
More @Lopers.com
