Whittaker Leads Wrestling at Hastings College Cusatis Open
Wrestling - Sat, Jan. 9, 2016 at 11:00 PM
Results
HASTINGS, Neb. – A week after sickness limited the Bethany College wrestling team to just a handful of wrestlers, the Swedes were back in action in Nebraska again. Bethany's Trevor Whittaker led the team with a third place finish, while Brandon Archuleta and John Risewick also had strong days.
Whittaker started his day quickly. He took a lead in the first on a take down and went to work. Whittaker won by fall just 21 seconds into the second round over Hastings' Dallas Doupnik. He then gritted out a 3-2 decision over Doane's Kyle Hoffman in the quarterfinals. Whittaker lost in the semifinals, but won by technical fall in the consolation semifinals.
Risewick was the first Swede on the mat and he started the Swedes off on the right note. Risewick opened his day with a 19-0 technical fall win over Christian Lewis who was wrestling unattached. Risewick then beat Anthony Rippe of Hastings College in a 9-1 major decision. But his day ended when he lost two decisions, an 8-2 decision to Colby Crank, and an 11-9 decision to Ryan Carpenter.
Trent Robb opened with a 6-3 decision win over Ryan Carpenter of the Colorado School of Mines. But, Robb was tripped up in his next two matches.
The same was true for Archuletta, who started his day with a fall just a minute and a half into the first period. He beat Juan Bustos of Central Baptist College. Archuletta then lost a major decision and a decision to end his day.
Ty Kolterman lost a tough 7-5 decision to start his day. But, he bounced back nicely with a 7-4 win over Zane Baugh before losing his second match of the day.
"This competition offers confirmation that virtually every member of the squad has been steadily improving. While Trevor Whittaker brought home the Swede's first medal of the season with an impressive third place finish at 184 pounds, others joined him on the march to the podium but fell just short. I am super proud of everyone's effort this week," said head coach Larry Nugent via e-mail after the tournament.