MARSHALL, Mo. — After Day 1 of the Missouri Valley Invitational, Tiger wrestling is sitting in fourth place with eight student-athletes still alive for Saturday's championship rounds.
The newly ranked No. 4-Tigers earned 29 points in the first two rounds, while No. 9 Williams Baptist College sits atop the standings with 35.5 points. Missouri Valley is second with 34 points and No. 1 Grand View is third with 31.5 points. Menlo College rounds out the Top 5 with 28 points.
Multiple Tigers earned byes in the first round and eight grapplers still have championship hopes alive going into Day 2 starting on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Michael Beets,
Angel Vasquez and
L.J. Henderson were the lone Tigers to be defeated in the first two rounds. Beets, wrestling at 125 pounds, earned a first-round bye and defeated Uk Ngun from Indiana Tech, 6-3, before losing 7-4 to Olson Delisca.
Vasquez, one of two grapplers at 141 pounds, was defeated in the first round by Kevin Kelly 8-2.
At 165 pounds, Henderson lost to Tim Dinsdale via tech fall, 16-0.
Kolten Radaz, wrestling at 133, earned a first-round bye before earning a 3-1 decision over Cooper Bailey. He will face Jake Sinkovics in the quarterfinal match. Also wrestling at 133 is
Aaron Rugnao. He earned was the lone Tiger to earn two victories on Friday after pinning Robb Rodriguez in 3:48 and then earning a 17-0 tech fall over Kaiden Hudson. Rugnao will take on Michael Andreano in the quarterfinal.
David Spark and
Michael Diemer, wrestling at 149 and 157, respectively, each went 1-0 on Day 1. Sparks pinned Bryce Backowski in 4:13 and will face Chase Krutzky in the quarterfinal. Diemer also received a first round bye and earned a 9-1 major decision over Jacob Gross. He will face Giovanny Bonilla on Saturday.
In the final three weight classes,
Justin Brown,
Tyler Rowland and
Nate Jackson are also alive. Brown received a bye and then a tech'd Josh Culp, 15-0. Rowland also earned a bye before earning a major over Lee Cannon, 10-0. Lastly, after Jackson's bye, he defeated Jordan Bills via a 12-3 major decision.
Brown will now face Isaac Rangel, while Rowland takes on Oscar Martinez and Jackson faces off with Ceron Francisco in the quarterfinals.
Fans can follow live video and results on Track Wrestling at the link above.
