The meet was the first hosted by NIACC since the program was disbanded in 1976. The program was officially reinstated last November and the initial meet honored the previous coach at NIACC, Kaye Young, who guided the Trojans to a National Junior College Athletic Association team title in 1973. NIACC head coach Richard Fergola had recruited a freshman class heavy with state champions and a few of them had solid performances in their collegiate debuts.
White, who finished 199-4 in high school and won four straight state titles, defeated T.J. Hepburn of Colby Community College (KS) 9-5 in the 149 final, taking a 5-2 lead in the second period and using his superior quickness to stay out of trouble in the third period. He advanced to the finals by pinning Buena Vista College (IA) wrestler Cody Schultz at 4:30. He had started the day by pinning Triton College (IL) competitor Ed Williams at 5:04 and beating Ivan Ramirez of Dana College (NE) 15-4.
T.J. Moen had the next highest finish among Trojans wrestlers, placing fourth at 141 pounds after winning four of six matches. He collected the first NIACC victory of the day (and first for a NIACC wrestler in 32 years) by defeating Isaiah Harris of Ellsworth Community College (IA) 10-3. Moen was a state champion wrestler for Saydel High and was nationally ranked in his weight class in high school.
Four NIACC wrestlers finished in fifth place: Cody Hogan (125), DaVaughn Perkins (157), Jordan Graham (184) and Luke Stika (197). Hogan – who came to NIACC after winning a state title in his weight division at Richmond High School in Richmond, MO, opened with pins in his initial two matches and earned fifth by defeating Taylor Louie (unattached) by technical fall in 47 seconds. Perkins won four of six matches and needed a 12-10 overtime victory against Dana's Kendall Burke to wrestle back to fifth place. Perkins was 86-0 at North High School in Omaha, NE before becoming a Trojan.
Graham won by technical fall at 4:57 against Triton's Justin Cunningham to take his first match and got a forfeit against William Penn University of Iowa's Royce Thomas for fifth. Stika edged Ross Milam of Dana 4-1 in his fifth-place match to finish 3-2 on the day. He had edged Jacob Elhorst of the Dubuque University (IA) 6-2 in his opener and won by fall at 3:39 over Scott Moder of Buena Vista in round two before losing a 2-1 nail biter to St. Olaf College (MN) competitor Steven Wood in the third round.
Along with White at 149 pounds, here are the listing of champions and their weight classes: At 125, Aaron Wilcox of Dana College defeated Dana teammate (wrestling unattached) Kevin Gray by forfeit. At 133, Josh Malott of William Penn defeated Justin Dixon of Ellsworth 6-2. At 141, Lyugo Kumbarov of Colby Community College (KS) defeated Dalton Jensen (wrestling unattached) of Iowa State 5-1. At 157, Dan Pray of Dana College defeated Joey Verschoor of Buena Vista 4-3. At 165, Bulla Tuzon of Dana College defeated Andrew Sorensen (unattached) of Iowa State by fall at 3:45. At 174, Joshua Murray of Buena Vista defeated Josh Ghobadpoor of Dana College 15-8. At 184, Chris Kern of Colby (KS) defeated Cole Spree of Northwestern College (IA) 4-1. At 197, Matt Wonderlin of Dubuque (IA) defeated Steven Wood (unattached) of St. Olaf College (MN) 5-3. At 285, Wade Jordan of Dana College defeated Tucker Lane (unattached) of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2-0.
More about the Kaye Young NIACC Open and NIACC's reinstated wrestling program can be found by checking the NIACC website at www.niacc.edu and clicking the athletics icon on the bottom left of the main page.
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