Morningside wrestling battles at Central

PELLA, Iowa – The Mustangs were back in full force Saturday, taking on competition at the Central Under Armour Invitational in Pella, Iowa. 

Morningside's lone champion came in the Gold 285 bracket. Hunter DeJong rattled off four wins to take home the title. The order of results was a fall in 2:25, a 19-2 tech fall, a 5-4 decision, and a fall in 1:45. 

Jakob Jerabek also wrestled in the 285 bracket with DeJong. Jerabek made the semifinals by way of two falls, one in 1:05 and the other in 6:07. Jerabek lost his next two matches to place fourth.

Zander Ernst placed second in Gold 165. He received a first round bye, then won matches by 17-0 tech fall and 5-1 decision to make the championship bout.

Hayden Wempen placed third and Caleb Connor won the consolation championship at 184. Wempen picked up a sudden victory 7-4 and a 14-3 major decision to make the semifinals. After a loss in the semis, Wempen earned a 19-4 tech fall to place third.

Connor, meanwhile, lost his first round match and had a bye into the consolation semis. He won both the semifinal and championship matches of the consolation by fall, with neither match getting out of the first period. 

Taylor Vasquez won the consolation championship in the 141 pound Gold bracket. After losing his first match to the bracket champion, Vasquez earned victories by fall (4:49), tech fall (16-0), and fall (0:45) to win the consolation bracket.

Morningside had three wrestlers at Gold 174. Jackson Chapin had the best finish of the three, placing 6th. Alex Vandyke made the consolation championship match by defeating his teammate, Brett Tyron in the consolation semifinals. 

Chapin earned a 17-6 major decision win, and after losing his second round match, picked up a fall in 1:35 to make the fifth place match. Vandyke lost his first match of the day, but rattled off a 5-4 decision and fall in 4:37 to make the consolation championship. Tryon earned a consolation win by fall in 1:37.

In the silver division, three Mustangs wrestled at 157, with two Morningsiders making the championship match. Caden Eggleston won the championship by way of 4-1 decision over Blaine Christo. Eggleston made the championship with wins by fall (6:08), major decision (14-5), and major decision (8-0). Christo received a first round by, then earned wins by 6-3 and 4-2 decisions. The third Mustang in the bracket was Carson Turnis. Tunis made the fifth place match by winning a 16-0 tech fall match, placing sixth by losing in tiebreaker for fifth.

Cameron Shultz made the championship at 165 by way of 19-9 major decision and fall in 4:39. Shultz lost in the championship to place second. Deontez Williams made the championship at 174 by earning wins of fall (1:15) and decision (12-5). Kaden Street placed fifth in 174 by losing his first match, then earning victories by fall (2:38) and tech fall (16-0). 

Chris Aragon placed fifth at 149 in the silver division, losing his first match of the day, but picking up falls in 2:30 and 4:50 to place fifth. Bryce Kwiecinski also placed fifth in his division, losing his opening match, but earning wins by fall in 1:30 and 4:50 to place fifth.

At Silver 125, Caelan Oakes Sudhish made it to the fifth place match by a fall in 6:50, but lost the fifth place match to finish 6th.