The NMHU Wrestling team finished off their second tournament of the year and came back with some hardware. The Old Chicago Northern Colorado Open was hosted on the University of Northern Colorado campus. The tournament featured competitors from many different collegiate levels, including the RMAC. This week the big finishers for the Cowboys came from the lower weight classes.
Seth Wright worked his way through the 125 lb bracket to the championship match but would have to settle for second place as he was forced to forfeit the championship match due to injury. Wright’s first win came over Division III Northwestern College’s Philip Grout with a 14-6 major decision. Next up for Wright was conference competitor Kyle O’Brien from Western State College. Wright also beat O’Brien with the score closer this time at 8-3. Sam Bauer from host school UNC was now against Wright in the semifinal round. Wright easily beat the Division I wrestler as the score was 4-2. Wright was to wrestle RMAC foe Treven DeLaune from CSU-Pueblo in the championship round. Wright had to forfeit due to injury but came away with second place for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys made their presence known in the 133 lb bracket as they took three of the top five places. Joshua Christopher led the way finishing in second place. Christopher’s first match was against Colorado State University’s Aaron Gray. Christopher beat the Division I wrestler in a major decision with a score of 18-5. Christopher then went on to beat Northwestern College’s Jake Budd 7-3. Next up in the semifinals was RMAC wrestler Joshua Neuberger from Western State College. Christopher won that match with a score of 8-6. In the final match of the night Christopher fell to fellow RMAC competitor Chris Rubalcaba from Mesa State College by a very close 2-1 decision.
Donovan Troup went to the wrestle back side of the bracket after falling to University of Wyoming’s Jake Eitzen 3-0 in the first round. Troup won some close matches and got a couple of injury forfeits to eventually find himself wrestling for third place against UW’s Eitzen once again. Troup would fall to Eitzen in the third place match by fall at 2:13, earning the fourth place spot.
Rounding out the 133 lb bracket was Devin Bruce. Bruce started out strong but fell to eventual champion Rubalcaba in the semifinal round. Bruce fell to Eitzen by pin at 5:32 forcing Bruce to wrestle Western State College’s Joshua Neuberger for fifth place. Bruce would pin Neuberger in 3:56 fifth place.
Trey Saxon was the lone Cowboy in the 149 lb bracket. Saxon finished 3-2 and placed sixth for the Cowboys. Saxon beat RMAC competitors from Mesa State College and Fort Hays State. Saxon was forced to forfeit in the fifth place match due to injury.
The Cowboys will be travelling to Primm, Nev. for their first RMAC dual with CSU-Pueblo on 12/3. The Cowboys will then take on fierce competition as they compete in the Las Vegas Invite 12/4-5.
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