Westminster at Prairie Wolf Duals, End Semester on a Positive Note

Quality Regional matchups are the core of the Westminster Blue Jays schedule.  Getting looks at potential postseason opponents and earning seeding criteria for the regional tournament is the individual incentive for doing well at this tournament.  In addition, having momentum as a team heading into January with another dual tournament on January 4th would be even better.  

It was a tall order for the Westminster Blue Jays as they entered the tournament 3-3 in duals after picking up a victory vs. William Woods earlier in the week.  The Blue Jays faced off against a tough Central (IA) team that featured five ranked wrestlers at the regional level (125 lbs, 141 lbs, 149 lbs, 184 lbs. and 197 lbs.) to start their day off.

Isaac Gawronski started things off with a lot of scoring in his match and gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 team lead after beating his opponent by a major decision (20-10).  However, that would be the lone match win for Westminster during the dual, and Central would score early and often on the Blue Jay wrestlers.  Central had three tech falls and three pins to take the first dual by a score of 40-4.

The second-round dual for the Blue Jays would be against the host team, Nebraska Wesleyan.  Nebraska Wesleyan came into the dual winless on the season as a team but was able to get things going early against Westminster.  Nebraska Wesleyan earned victories in the first five weight classes building a 23-0 lead.  However, the dual would not finish in a one-sided fashion.  Westminster, starting at 165 and junior Michael Roberts came storming back with a second-period pin.  After Roberts’ match, the Blue Jays won three of their last four matches but came up short in the comeback and dropped their second dual of the day by a score of 26-21.  

The third and final round of the day for the Westminster Blue Jays was against another regional opponent, Simpson.  The team score was kept close during the first six bouts of this dual as each team would earn three victories each with Westminster clinging to a narrow 18-17 lead, heading into the 174 lb. match.  After a couple of scrambles, freshman Aidyn Merchant found himself on top and pinned his opponent in the closing seconds of the second period.  After that, Westminster didn’t look back.  With two back-to-back tech falls at 184 lbs. and 197 lbs. (By Sophomores Austen Wetzel and Cole Harrell respectively) the Blue Jays put the dual win out of reach even though they gave up the pin at the 285 lb. weight class.  The Final score was 34-23 in favor of Westminster.

Overall the Blue Jays would go 1-2 on the day as a team.  Several of their wrestlers would finish 2-1 on the day individually, including Isaac Gawronski, Michael Roberts, Austen Wetzel, and Cole Harrell.  All of the aforementioned wrestlers earned bonus point victories in all of their wins on the day.  The Blue Jays do drop below .500 as a team but they do improve on the win column and are now 4-5 on the season heading into January.  

Below is the link you can watch the stream from the Prairie Wolf Duals:

Up Next:  

The Westminster Blue Jays will have a couple of weeks off before they compete again. The first weekend in January, they will travel to the Chicago area to take part in the Fred Johnson Duals (January 4th). The following weekend, they will be at the Dr. Tom Smith Invitational, hosted by Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis. Their next home event will be on January 22nd, and they will be hosting William Woods University.  

Below are the round-by-round results for the three duals Westminster took part in:

Round 1: Central (IA) 40 vs. Westminster 4

Round 2 Nebraska Wesleyan 26 vs. Westminster 21

Round 3:  Simpson (IA) 23 vs. Westminster 34