The weekend before Thanksgiving Break is usually a good benchmark for many college teams across the country. The season is a few weeks old already but at this point the wrestlers are making their drop to their desired weight class and figuring out where they are in terms of the pecking order among their respective division’s wrestlers.
The Westminster Coaching staff wanted to challenge both their men’s and women’s team because they know when it comes to the national qualifying meets at the end of the season, both the men’s and women’s team are in the toughest regionals in the country. The good news for Westminster, Missouri has some of the toughest competitions throughout the season, which means they don’t have to travel far to seek out the best of the best. The Westminster team was also looking for mat time for the current roster as they have been growing it each year since they restarted their program in 2017.
The Women’s team traveled to the Missouri Valley Open. This tournament is considered to be one of the (if not #1) toughest regular season tournaments in the country. It was a two-day event and there were 600+ wrestlers from NAIA and all NCAA divisions with multiple ranked individuals in each weight class. Louise Eskina found that out quickly, losing consecutive matches to a wrestler from York University (Nebraska, NAIA) and another one from McKendree University (Currently ranked #4 as a team in the NCAA Women’s Rankings).
On Sunday, the Westminster Men’s team took to the mats at one of the toughest Division 2 hosted events (The UCM Open). The teams listed for this event included the #13-ranked NAIA school, Missouri Valley, Maryville and host UCM (ranked 8 and 24 respectively at NCAA Division 2), and several other individually ranked wrestlers from the other schools in attendance.
Overall the Westminster Men’s team went for some quality mat time and they got it. Their 13 wrestlers wrestled 55 total matches and won 29 of them. Out of those 29, 12 of them were victories via fall or tech fall. Three of their athletes reached the podium (top 6 finish).
Individual Highlights:
Senior Michael Roberts at 157 lbs. lost his first round match-up but was able to battle back on the consolation side to the consolation semi-final round where he lost to the same unattached wrestler that he started the tournament with, sending him to the 5th/6th place match to finish out his day.
Freshman, Aidyn Merchant at 174 lbs., narrowly lost his quarterfinal matchup to a Division 1 opponent from SIUE by a score of 7-6. On the back side of the bracket he would score 2 pins and tech fall to secure a 5th place finish. One key victory for Merchant was vs. DIII Regional opponent from Quincy. This may provide a key piece of seeding criteria in a couple of months when Westminster enters the postseason.
Sophomore, Austen Wetzel at 184 lbs appeared to be a man on a mission. He was seeded second and proved early on that he is deserving of his NCAA D3 pre-season ranking, beating his first 3 opponents by a combined 26-13 and pinning one of them. He faced off against a tough opponent from UCM and would not be able to get any offense going and took 2nd place after losing the finals match 16-4.
The matches of the UCM Open were live streamed via flowrestling.org and if you wish to watch them by clicking the link here and searching by name to find the match you wish to watch: https://www.flowrestling.org/events/12982564-kaufman-brand-bayly-ucm-open/videos?playing=13083563&limit=60
Below are the individual match-by-match results for the men’s and women’s Westminster Blue Jays:
Womens 160 lbs (At the Missouri Valley Open)
Louise Eskina’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Joy Ortiz (York University) won by tech fall over Louise Eskina (Westminster University) (TF 11-0)
- Cons. Round 1 – Louise Eskina (Westminster University) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 2 – Ruby Rios (McKendree University) won by tech fall over Louise Eskina (Westminster University) (TF 10-0)
Elite 141 lbs.
Wyatt Cooley’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Sabian Russell (Quincy) won by tech fall over Wyatt Cooley (Westminster) (TF 15-0)
- Cons. Round 1 – Jake Barnes (Baker) won by fall over Wyatt Cooley (Westminster) (Fall 6:20)
Elite 149 lbs.
Jonathan Roberts’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Jonathan Roberts (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Trevor Christian (Drury) won by fall over Jonathan Roberts (Westminster) (Fall 1:35)
- Cons. Round 2 – Ethan Norton (Ozarks ) won by fall over Jonathan Roberts (Westminster) (Fall 5:35)
Elite 157 lbs.
Michael Roberts’s place is 6th and has scored 11.5 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Ishmael Guerrero (Unattached) won by tech fall over Michael Roberts (Westminster) (TF 16-0)
- Cons. Round 1 – Michael Roberts (Westminster) won by fall over Hunter Dietrich (Newman) (Fall 0:44)
- Cons. Round 2 – Michael Roberts (Westminster) won by medical forfeit over Jorden Johnson (SIU Edwardsville) (MFFL)
- Cons. Round 3 – Michael Roberts (Westminster) won by fall over Jakob Stovall (Baker) (Fall 2:05)
- Cons. Semi – Ishmael Guerrero (Unattached) won by disqualification over Michael Roberts (Westminster) (DQ)
- 5th Place Match – Logan Rathjen (Unattached) won by disqualification over Michael Roberts (Westminster) (DQ)
Elite 174 lbs.
Aidyn Merchant’s place is 5th and has scored 12.5 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Quarterfinal – Aaron Cramer (SIU Edwardsville) won by decision over Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) (Dec 7-6)
- Cons. Round 2 – Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) won by fall over Dalton Schell (Quincy) (Fall 2:14)
- Cons. Round 3 – Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) won by fall over Maximus Rosario (University of Central Missouri) (Fall 0:42)
- Cons. Semi – Cole Ritter (Maryville) won by tech fall over Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) (TF 20-4)
- 5th Place Match – Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) won by tech fall over Jeremiah Halter (Drury) (TF 18-0)
Elite 184 lbs.
Austen Wetzel’s place is 2nd and has scored 15.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Austen Wetzel (Westminster) won by decision over Callan Ivy (Quincy) (Dec 7-6)
- Quarterfinal – Austen Wetzel (Westminster) won by fall over Spencer Rochelle (Ottawa) (Fall 3:46)
- Semifinal – Austen Wetzel (Westminster) won by decision over Dalton Litzsinger (Maryville) (Dec 11-6)
- 1st Place Match – Damon Ashworth (University of Central Missouri) won by major decision over Austen Wetzel (Westminster) (Maj 16-4)
Elite 197 lbs.
Thomas Tempest’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Thomas Tempest (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Kayden Garrett (Quincy) won by fall over Thomas Tempest (Westminster) (Fall 4:37)
- Cons. Round 2 – Thomas Tempest (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 3 – Samuel Murphy (NEO) won by fall over Thomas Tempest (Westminster) (Fall 2:20)
Elite 197 lbs.
Cole Harrell’s place is unknown and has scored 6.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Cole Harrell (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Cole Harrell (Westminster) won by fall over Maxim Ryner (Quincy) (Fall 0:49)
- Quarterfinal – Jesse Cassatt (Missouri) won by decision over Cole Harrell (Westminster) (Dec 9-4)
- Cons. Round 4 – Cole Harrell (Westminster) won by tech fall over Logan Colbert (Quincy) (TF 15-0)
- Cons. Round 5 – Ronan Wunsch (University of Central Missouri) won by major decision over Cole Harrell (Westminster) (Maj 15-7)
Amateur 125 lbs.
Kannon Blagg’s place is unknown and has scored 4.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Kannon Blagg (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Kannon Blagg (Westminster) won by fall over Blake Prather (Ottawa) (Fall 1:01)
- Quarterfinal – Diego Barajas (Maryville) won by fall over Kannon Blagg (Westminster) (Fall 1:56)
- Cons. Round 4 – Anthony Piaia (Ottawa) won by fall over Kannon Blagg (Westminster) (Fall 1:18)
Amateur 125 lbs.
Tyler James’s place is unknown and has scored 3.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Tyler James (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Brian Farley (Quincy) won by tech fall over Tyler James (Westminster) (TF 18-1)
- Cons. Round 2 – Tyler James (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 3 – Tyler James (Westminster) won by fall over Caden Betz (Carl Albert) (Fall 4:16)
- Cons. Round 4 – Deion Johnson (SIU Edwardsville) won by fall over Tyler James (Westminster) (Fall 1:23)
Amateur 133 lbs.
Henry Warfel’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Henry Warfel (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Michael Martin (Missouri Valley) won by fall over Henry Warfel (Westminster) (Fall 0:10)
- Cons. Round 2 – Henry Warfel (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 3 – Clyde Adams (Ozarks ) won by fall over Henry Warfel (Westminster) (Fall 1:50)
Amateur 149 lbs.
Adam Peregoy’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Andrew Manley (NEO) won by tech fall over Adam Peregoy (Westminster) (TF 20-5)
- Cons. Round 1 – Adam Peregoy (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 2 – Ethan Peterson (Baker) won by major decision over Adam Peregoy (Westminster) (Maj 10-2)
Amateur 149 lbs.
Austen James’s place is unknown and has scored 5.5 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Austen James (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Champ. Round 2 – Bryce Kegley (Newman) won by fall over Austen James (Westminster) (Fall 0:45)
- Cons. Round 2 – Austen James (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 3 – Austen James (Westminster) won by fall over Trenton Crowley (Missouri Valley) (Fall 1:44)
- Cons. Round 4 – Austen James (Westminster) won by fall over Derrick Leatherman (Carl Albert) (Fall 2:18)
- Cons. Round 5 – Bryce Kegley (Newman) won by fall over Austen James (Westminster) (Fall 2:10)
Amateur 174 lbs.
Garrett McDowell’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
- Champ. Round 1 – Anthony King (Quincy) won by fall over Garrett McDowell (Westminster) (Fall 6:02)
- Cons. Round 1 – Garrett McDowell (Westminster) received a bye () (Bye)
- Cons. Round 2 – Cameron Braswell (Central Oklahoma) won by fall over Garrett McDowell (Westminster) (Fall 1:26)
Up Next:
The Westminster Blue Jays do have a little time off from competition for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The men’s team will be back at it again on Saturday December 7th down at the University of the Ozarks for a quad-meet. The quad meet will be streamed online via flowrestling.org starting at 12:00 p.m. CT. The Blue Jays will then return to Fulton on December 10th to wrestle their NAIA neighbor Williams Woods. The Lady Blue Jays will have their dual before the men’s on this same date. With another quick turn-around, the men’s team will have another tournament at the Prairie Wolf Duals hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University (Lincoln, NE). Then the Blue Jays will be out of competition until after the first of the year.
