The No. 12-ranked Fort Hays State grapplers defeated RMAC opponent Chadron State, 24-10, on Sunday (Jan. 8) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. The Tigers won seven of the 10 matches in the dual, upping their season record to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the RMAC.
The Tigers rolled out to an early 9-0 lead, winning the first three matches of the night at 141, 149 and 157 pounds, respectively. Sophomore C.J. Napier started the dual with a 9-3 decision win over Leandro Arias at 141 pounds. Redshirt-Freshman Joey Dozier followed that victory with his own win, defeating C.J. Clark in overtime, 7-5, at 149 pounds. Sophomore Derek Koehn gave the Tigers their third straight win with a 4-0 decision victory over Bruce Zurek, upping FHSU team score to 9-0.
After the Eagles won the next two matches at 165 pounds and 174 pounds to cut the score to 9-7, FHSU won the next four matches for a commanding 24-7 advantage. Walker Clarke, who is ranked No. 3 in his 184-pound class, started the run of four straight wins with a 14-5 decision over Jordan Debus. Clarke's record is now 11-1 on the season. At 197 pounds, sophomore Tanner Kriss scored a technical fall by the score of 17-1 over Chris Leak, giving the Tigers a 18-7 lead.
The final two Tiger wins came via decisions at 285 and 125 pounds. Senior Justin Glenn defeated RJ Boylan in a 3-1 overtime decision, while junior Collin Hase won, 2-0, at 125-pounds over the Eagles' Connor Larson.
The next action for FHSU is on Jan. 19 when the Tigers travel to Adams State in Alamosa, Colo for RMAC action. The scheduled start time is 8 p.m.
