Morningside takes GPAC crown following 3-0 day at GPAC Duals
SIOUX CITY, IOWA – Men's wrestling went 3-0 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Duals II, starting the day by running the table against Hastings in a school record tying 60-0 victory. The Mustangs followed with a 41-7 victory over Midland, before concluding the GPAC dual season with an 18-16 nail biter against Doane, which named Morningside the 2022-23 conference champions.
Morningside recorded six pins in the day-opening dual, with Ben Schmitz, Nicholas Walters, John Diener, Caleb Connor, Samuel Moore, and Hunter DeJong all collecting pins against Hastings. Evan Shell, Noah Styskal, Hayden Wempen, and Alex Vandyke completed the perfect dual, receiving forfeits.
The Mustangs bested the Broncos in less than 25 minutes, with only two matches reaching the second period, and none making it past the five-minute mark. Moore's pin took just 40 seconds, well off Morningside's fastest fall record of 13 seconds.
Shell and Vasquez kicked off the Midland dual with a pair of pins, with Walters receiving a forfeit.
Diener broke the streak of six-point wins, as he and Zander Ernst earned a pair of major decisions. Styskal won a 10-5 decision, sandwiched between the pair of majors.
Wempen and Jakob Jerabek concluded Morningside's scoring against Midland with a pair of falls, pounding nails in the Midland coffin and guaranteeing that the Doane dual would be for all the marbles.
The Mustangs and Doane's Tigers exchanged decisions early in the pair's dual, as you would expect from a pair of 7-0 teams that both appear in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics top 20 with ranked wrestlers throughout their lineups. Doane had held opponents to just nine points in GPAC duals coming into the match.
Vasquez won a decision at 133 pounds, answering Doane's win at 125.
The Tigers would win a major decision at 141 and a decision at 149 to open a 10-3 lead before Styskal received a medical forfeit at 157, closing the gap to 10-9.
Ernst, Connor, and Wempen each fought for decisions, giving Morningside an 18-10 edge with two matches left.
Doane fought hard to get a decision at 197, where an undersized Alex Vandyke almost was able to put points in Morningside's column. He did his job, though, all but securing the Mustang win. The Mustangs couldn't give up more than a major decision in the heavyweight match if they wanted to take the season trophy home.
Hunter DeJong suffered a similar fate to Vandyke, falling in a hard-fought decision. Like Vandyke, though, his efforts were enough to keep Doane from stealing the win, as Morningside was announced as the GPAC champs.
The Mustangs finished the GPAC duals season with an 8-0 record. Morningside will host the Dave Edmonds Open on Saturday, Feb. 4, before competing in a dual at Ottawa, Kan., on Feb. 7.
