The No. 21 Peacock Wrestling team fought hard at the NCAA Division II Super Region V Championships in Aberdeen, S.D. on Saturday. Upper Iowa placed second as a team after claiming two region champions, a runner-up, two third-place finishes and a fourth-place finish. No. 1 St. Cloud State won the team title with 116.5 points, while UIU's 66.5 points locked up second place. Minnesota State came in third with 59.5 points and Augustana rounded out the top four with 57 points.
Luensman claimed his 157-pound title on Saturday thanks to a 3-0 record. The true sophomore defeated Ben Durocher of Parkside by decision 10-3 and then outlasted Nathan Baca of Minot State 12-10 to reach the finals. In the title match, Luensman used two takedowns in the first period and one more in the second to secure an 8-4 win over Caden Moore of Northern State and grab the regional championship.
Ryg remained undefeated on the season with three more wins to improve to 9-0 while claiming the 197-pound regional title. The redshirt freshman scored a 2-1 decision over Noe Garcia of Minot State in his opening match and then secured his shot in the finals with a 3-2 win over Matt Kaylor of UMary. In the finals, Ryg lined up with Noah Ryan of SCSU. After Ryan scored an escape in the second, Ryg answered with a takedown with just two seconds to go on the middle frame. Ryg scored the final point of the boot just fifteen seconds into the period with an escape to win 3-1.
Tate Murty posted a 5-1 record in the 141-pound bracket. His five wins came with authority as the redshirt sophomore recorded three wins by fall and two major decisions. A fall and major put him into the championship semis against Joey Bianchini of SCSU, but Murty lost 5-1. After a win by fall in the consolation semis, Murty rallied from behind to pin Jack Huffman of Augustana to win the third-place match and earn a true-second place match against Kolton Roth of Northern State. Murty scored a takedown, three reversals and a pair of two-point nearfalls to run away with a 19-8 major decision to claim the runner-up position and spot in the NCAA Championships.
Donny Schmit scored a third-place finish at 133 pounds thanks to a 3-2 record. Schmit opened the day with a 3-1 victory over Brock Luthens of Minnesota State, but couldn't get past SCSU's Garrett Vos in the championship semis. Schmit edged Jackson Stauffacher of SMSU 3-1 to get a shot at third place. Schmit had to face Luthens again, and the Fairbank, Iowa native scored a 3-2 win and earned a true-second place match against Augie's Brandon Carroll. Carroll won the second-place match 5-1 thanks to a takedown in the first period and one more in the third frame.
Eric Faught claimed third place at 149 pounds with a 3-1 record on the day. The redshirt freshman claimed a pair of dominating major decisions over wrestlers from Parkside and SMSU. Faught has only two losses on the year but both have come to Garrett Aldrich in one-point decisions. On Saturday the loss came in the championship semifinals. Faught won his third place match over Wyatt Turnquist of Northern State by decision 4-3.
While Luensman, Ryg and Murty have qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships in two weeks, there is a chance that Schmit and Faught could join them as well. The NCAA will announce the official qualifiers list on Monday. This year's NCAA Division II Championships will be held at the America's Center in St. Louis, Mo. on Mar. 12-13.
Kaden Anderlik won the matches on Saturday, but placed fourth after losing a pair of tight matches to Minnesota State's Trenton McManus, 6-4, and Parkside's Joe Arroyo, 3-2. The loss to McManus came in the championship semifinals, while the loss to Arroyo was in the third-place match. Anderlik closed out his first season in the varsity singlet with a 6-4 record.
Scott Kellenberger went 2-2 on the day in the 165-pound bracket. The redshirt freshman battles through the consolation brackets with a pair of decisions over wrestlers from Southwest Minnesota State and MSU Moorhead. Kellenberger's day ended in the consolation semis against Brayden Huber of UMary.
Dalton Hahn earned a place in the championship semis after a 7-4 win over Caden Steffen of SMSU to open his day. Unfortunately, the Peacock senior ran into two of the region's best from SCSU and Augustana in his next two bouts dropping a pair of major decisions to fall to 4-5 on the year.
Jordan Baumler also went 1-2 in Aberdeen winning in the second tiebreaker period of the consolation third round over Rodsean Graham of Wisconsin-Parkside, 4-3, to move to the consolation semis, but his season came to an end with a loss to Jacob Dykes of SMSU.
Myron Crawford went 0-2 in the 174-pound weight class with losses to grapplers from UMary and MSU Moorhead.
