Aberdeen, S.D. – Three Wolves have advanced to the second day of the UIndy Midwest Classic with nine total wrestlers in action. Northern State tallied 16 individual match wins on the day, accumulating 15.5 team points.
Dayne Morton (125), No. 12
Caden Moore (149), and
Billy Holtan (165) will all battle for third place finishes in day two.
Morton grabbed back-to-back victories in his opening rounds of the day, defeating No. 8 Eric Bartos of Mercyhurst, 4-2, in the sudden victory round, and No. 11 Austin Neal of Newberry in a 9-7 decision. The freshman advanced to the quarterfinals and ultimately fell in a close matched, 2-1 decision to No. 6 Nick Daggett of North Carolina Pembroke.
Robert Coyle III finished the day with a 2-2 record. The freshman opened the meet with a 9-6 decision victory over Casey Ragle of Bellarmine, before falling in a 9-1 major decision to No. 9 Danny Swan of Lindenwood. Coyle bounced back for a 6-2 decision win over Bryce Davis of Urbana for his second win of the classic.
Moore slid into the quarterfinals with three decision victories. The freshman defeated Austin Shaw of Seton Hill, 10-6, Jacob Lees of Urbana, 5-2, and Justin Chenoweth of Western Colorado, 8-4. He fell behind early in the first two periods versus Noah Warren of Marian University in the quarterfinals but battled back in the third, but it wasn't enough as he fell 7-6.
Walker Carr opened the meet with back-to-back wins, defeating J.D. Waters of Indianapolis (7-2) and Jason Slaughter of Western Colorado (5-3). Carr however finished his day with a 2-2 record after falling twice by decision.
Holtan dropped his first match of the day to Jackson Sweeney of Augustana and found himself battling through the consolation rounds. The redshirt freshman advanced in back-to-back matches due to medical forfeit, and then came away with a 7-4 tiebreaker victory over No. 6 Kyle Jolas of Lindenwood.
Both No. 9
Kaden Campbell and
Diego Gallegos opened the day with a win, and fell in their next two matches. Campbell defeated Ivan Balavage of Newman by fall at 0:59 in the first, while Gallegos downed Peter Abraham of Ashland in a 5-2 decision.
Harrison Townsend was the third Wolf to go 2-2 on the day. He opened with a 2-0 decision win over Chase Miller of Central Missouri, before falling in a 4-1 decision to conference opponent Luke Nohns of Augustana. The sophomore bounced back with a 5-3 decision victory over Thor Balavage of Newman, and ended his day in the second round of the consolation bracket.
Action continues for NSU tomorrow from the Midwest Classic, with Morton, Moore, and Holtan in competition. Morton will face Joe Arroyo of Wisconsin Parkside, Moore will match up against Austin Shaw of Seton Hill who he defeated in the prelim round, and Holtan will face Matthew Rodriguez of Limestone. Wrestling opens back up at 12 p.m. (CST).
