Upper Iowa men's wrestling placed fourth at the 44th annual Midwest Classic in Indianapolis, Ind. behind five place winners.
Chase Luensman (165) placed second,
Tate Murty (141) and
Ethen Doty (149) came in fourth,
Eric Faught (157) took fifth in his first action of the season and
Colter Bye (184) placed seventh.
There were 51 (out of 65) Division II programs at the event. Within that group, 21 of the top 25 teams were in attendance, including seven of the top ten teams.
No.1 ranked Lander claimed the first-place title after gathering 126 points, followed by UW-Parkside in second with 112 and Central Oklahoma with 109, who barely edged out Upper Iowa for the third-place spot. The Peacocks accumulated 108.5 points and finished in fourth, improving from last year's sixth-place performance. UMary finished fifth with 98.5 to round out the top five teams at the event.
Collectively, UIU tied with Lander for a tournament-high of 11 pins in a combined time of 23:09 while recording a total 326 match points.
Luensman (165) made the finals for the second year in a row and led the Peacocks by placing second, going 4-1 at the event. He posted one fall, two wins by decision and a sudden victory in the semifinal. He dropped to the second-ranked wrestler, David Hunsberger, in the first-place match by decision (7-4) after giving up a takedown as time expired.
Murty (141) took fourth place at the tournament for the second consecutive year and posted a 5-2 mark over the weekend. He won four straight matches before surrendering his first loss to Dylan Lucas (Central Oklahoma) by major decision (9-1) in the semifinal. Murty bounced back in the consolation semifinal in sudden victory before dropping the third-place match to Cayden Henschel (UW-Parkside) by decision (8-6). Both of his losses were to nationally-ranked wrestlers.
Doty (149) executed an 8-2 record at the Midwest Classic, battling back in the consolation bracket after losing by sudden victory in the second round of matches. He strung together seven straight wins to make it to the third-place match, but was unable to conquer Jackson Hoover of Indianapolis in his final face-off. Doty put up five wins by fall during the event in 5:50, earning him an award for "Most falls in least amount of time."
Faught (157) went 7-2 with wins over three nationally-ranked wrestlers in his first outing of the season to earn fifth place. He fell in the third round of the championship bracket and put together four straight wins before being bested by Keegan Roberson (UNC Pembroke) by major decision in the consolation semifinals. Faught won by medical forfeit in the last round to claim his fifth-place finish.
Bye (184) was the fifth and final competitor for UIU on day two. He placed seventh at the tournament after posting a 4-2 record. He won all of his matches by decision, trumping Cole Casilio (Gannon) in a score of 4-3 in the seventh-place match.
Other Peacocks to compete at the Midwest Classic included
Treyton Ackman (125),
James Davis (133),
Lawson Losee (174),
Cameron Lopez (197) and
Jordan Baumler (285). Ackman was 0-2 on the day and Baumler collected two after going 2-2 for the weekend. Davis went 1-2 and earned three team points, losing to Chi (UW-Parkside) 4-1 in overtime. Chi placed went on to place third. He also suffered a nail-biting loss 9-8 to Binder (Maryville) as he surrendered a three-point lead with less than 20 seconds remaining. Binder went on to place eighth.
Losee added seven and a half points, picking up two wins by fall and one major decision. He was 4-2 at the event, both losses coming from nationally-ranked wrestlers. Lopez went 2-2 in his season debut for three and a half team points. During his outing, he earned a win over Elijah Hinojosa (Chadron State) who is ranked #18 by The Open Mat.
Upper Iowa has completed the 2023 portion of their schedule and are set to take the mat in 2024 at the NWCA National Duals on Jan. 5-6 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
