Morningside places second at conference tournament

HASTINGS, Neb. — The Morningside University men's wrestling team earned second place — and a couple individual champions — at the Great Plains Athletic Conference championships on Saturday.

Morningside scored 153.5 points behind Doane, which won the conference title with 218.

The two champions were Blaine Christo at 165 pounds and Alex VanDyke at 174. Christo received a bye in the first round, then earned back-to-back technical fall victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

In the 165 finals, Christo defeated Concordia's Tommy Wentz in a 15-7 major decision. Christo scored 11 first-period points, including three separate 3-point takedowns.

VanDyke also was idle in the opening round, then earned a tech fall in the quarterfinals. He later earned an 11-6 win in the semis to be in the championship. He scored nine points in the second period of his semifinal win.

In the championship, VanDyke defeated Doane's Benjamin Dobler 5-3.

Mustangs senior Jakob Jerabek earned the silver medal at 285 pounds. He won 15-1 in his quarterfinal match, then pinned Midland's Zeph Siveis in 6 minutes, 54 seconds. In the final, Jerabek lost 7-6 to Koen Mattern of Hastings.

The two bronze medalists were Carson Turnis at 174 pounds, and Caden Eggleston at 157. In the consolation semi, Eggleston defeated teammate Abraham Dirkx in sudden victory. Dirkx wound up placing fifth.