Six Ephs Place at Simpson Invitational
Indianola, IA -- The Ephs placed ten wrestlers in the top 10, including six in the top 6, at the Simpson Invitational wrestling tournament yesterday. After placing only a single wrestler in their last appearance two years ago, the Ephs finished fourth overall against 15 of the strongest teams in Division II and III wrestling.
Standout transfer, Ryan Malo '09, had a huge weekend knocking
off #9 Nic Barclay of Luther College by pin on Friday at 184 pounds
and then winning the tournament at 197 pounds the next day.
At 197, Malo joined three wrestlers ranked in the top eight in the
country, defeating #2 Rob Kramer of Coe College in the finals by a
score of 5-4.
Sophomore Corey Paulish had an outstanding weekend, defeating John
Prichard of Simpson College in overtime Friday and then finishing
fourth overall in Saturday's tournament. After losing his
first match 10-9, Paulish tallied five straight victories to finish
fourth behind three nationally-ranked opponents.
Four Ephs joined Paulish and Malo on the podium, including Captain Ethan Cohen '09, Carl Breitenstein '10, Drew Gatewood '10, and Nate Shippee '10. At 125, Cohen gave up only four total points before losing in the semifinals to the fourth ranked wrestler in DII, Tyler Mumbalo of Upper Iowa University.
At 157, Breitenstein joined the number one ranked wrestlers in Division II, III, and the NAIA. After winning his first two matches by a total margin of 25 points, Breteinstein fell to the top wrestler in the NAIA, Matt Collum of Missouri Baptist University. After just twenty minutes of rest Breitenstein lost to the fourth ranked wrestler in the NAIA, Josh Swanson of William Penn University, before medical defaulting to take sixth place overall.
At 174, Gatewood won his first match by pinning Lucas Pointer of
Coe at 2:45, before falling in the semifinals to J. P. Williams of
Grand View University, 7-5 in sudden death overtime. Joining
Malo at 197, Shippee, Captain Kyle Ayer '09, and Mike Hanley '12
placed fifth, seventh, and eigth, respectively. Captain Dyaln
Rittenburg '10, after losing his first match 6-4 in sudden death
overtime, won three straight matches on his way to earning eigth
place overall.
Head Coach Dan DiCenzo was extremely pleased with his team's
performance this weekend, noting that, "This was the toughest
tournament our program has wrestled outside of the nationals and
conference championships...We had a really great weekend."
The Ephs performance as a team was good enough for fourth place,
behind the first and fourth ranked teams in DIII and behind the
eighthranked team in DII.
The Ephs have two weeks to build on their strong performance and
get ready to for the Desert Duals on December 21 at number one
ranked Wartburg College.
