Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports Information
Freshman Mark Mabry, Jr. and junior Luke McPeek each recorded first-period wins by fall and the 17th-ranked Grizzlies received another pair by forfeit en route to scoring a 32-16 in over the 19th-ranked Fort Hays State (Kan.) Tigers in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) wresting action on Thursday afternoon.
ASC, which moved up one spot in the latest set of national rankings which were released Thursday, improve to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in RMAC duals with the win, while FHSU falls to 5-4 in duals with a 1-2 mark in conference match-ups.
Grizzly wrestlers scored victories in four of the matches seven contested bouts.
With a 26-13 lead over the Tigers and the team victory already in hand, McPeek needed only 32 seconds on the mat before dismissing of the FHSU 197-pounder Malcom Norris. The win improved McPeek’s mark this season to 18-5 overall and 9-1 in duals, and also gave him his sixth pin of the dual meet season.
The pin was the fastest of his seven total wins by fall this season by more than two minutes, while being the Grizzlies’ fastest of the season by 11 seconds.
At 174 pounds, Mabry scored his first win by fall of the season at the 2 minutes, 36 second mark to put Adams State up 26-10 and leave FHSU in need of three wins and at least one pin in the final three matches in order to grab the team victory.
Freshman Jerry Huff was dominant in putting the Grizzlies up 5-0 by way of a technical fall at 125 pounds in the first bout of the afternoon, improving his record to 7-8 this season and 6-4 in dual matches. Huff scored four near falls of the 3-point variety against the Tigers’ Rory Wilkinson, the last coming at the 6:28 mark to secure the win by technical fall (16-0).
Adams State then received victories by forfeit and both 133 and 141 pounds, building up a 17-0 lead, before Fort Hays got on the board due to a Grizzly forfeit at 149 pounds.
At 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Justin Samora allowed just two escapes, and scored a point for riding time, in a 6-2 victory over Derek Koehn.
Samora improved his mark to 12-9 this season (7-3 in duals), while dropping Koehn to 22-14 on the season.
Wrestling for just the fifth time in the dual meet season, redshirt freshman Aaron Heredia faced off against the Tigers’ Travis Budke, ranked No.7 in Division II at 165 pounds. Heredia scored a trio of escapes, but was unable to generate much offense in a loss by major decision (15-3).
Sophomore Taylor Stam entered the third period knotted up at 3-3 in the heavyweight bout, but FHSU’s scored an escape to snatch a 4-3 win to make the final 32-16.
Looking to make it two in a row against nationally-ranked Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) opponents, the Adams State wrestling squad dropped five decisions by a combined 17 points in falling to 9th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney in Cushing Coliseum on Friday afternoon.
The Grizzlies fell to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in RMAC duals with the loss, and fell to 1-4 against ranked opponents this season. The Lopers improved to 12-3 with a 2-1 RMAC mark with the win, and would record a dual-meet victory over New Mexico Highlands on Friday as well.
Jordan earned the Grizzlies’ first team points in a match-up between a pair of nationally-ranked 141 pounders. Jordan, ranked No. 6 according to the Feb. 3 National Wrestling Coaches’ Association (NWCA) poll, took the lead against seventh-ranked Dalton Jensen on a second-period reversal. Jensen recorded an escape in the second and another with 1 minute, 2 second left in the third to knot the bout at 2-2, but 1:42 of riding time gave Jordan a 3-2 decision.
Jordan, now 17-2 overall this season and a perfect 10-0 in dual meets, is also 2-0 against nationally-ranked opponents this season.
Jordan’s win came after a pair of decisions had given the Lopers a 6-0 lead. Freshman 125-pounder Jerry Huff recorded a pair of escapes in the third period, but fell by an 8-2 tally against sixth-ranked Josh Smith, and at 133 pounds redshirt freshman Corey Johnson was unable to overcome a pair of first-period takedowns against Stephen Weimer in a 4-2 loss.
After forfeiting at 149, the Girzzlies faced a 12-3 hole that was quickly closed by win by fall from redshirt freshman Justin Samora.
Samora’s first pin of the season came with the match tied 6-6 and just seven seconds left on the clock, brining ASC within three (12-9).
But 10 points in the next three matches, including a major decision at 165 pounds and decision by two and one point at 174 and 184,respectively, assured the Lopers of victory with a 13-point lead and only two matches remaining.
Third-ranked junior Luke McPeek continued his dual-meet dominance, upping his dual-meet record to 10-1 with his seventh pin of the dual season coming at the 4:51 mark of the afternoon’s 197-pound match.
The Lopers ended the dual with a 6-2 in the heavyweight bout to make the final tally 25-15.
The Grizzlies will wrestle their final dual of the season next Thursday, hitting the road again to face Colorado St.-Pueblo, 3-8 this season and 0-5 in the RMAC.
The ThunderWolves scored a 52-0 win over Northwest Kansas Tech on Thursday, Feb. 3, and will be in action on Saturday against UNK before hosting ASC.
Following their dual with the ThunderWolves, the Grizzlies will then have two weeks to prepare for the Feb. 26-27 NCAA Super Regional Four/RMAC Championships in San Francisco, Calif.
Also because oh his efforts this weekend, McPeek was named Rocky Mountaiun Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Week.
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