Contact: Matthew Eaker, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, mreaker@noctrl.edu

Team Scores
Brackets 
Results 

WHEATON, Ill. (Jan. 28, 2023) - The North Central College men's wrestling team's two-day performance propelled them ahead of 31 other teams at the prestigious Pete Willson Invitational to claim the team title for the second time in program history and first time since 2020. 

The Cardinals were the leaders heading into the second day of action, holding a four point advantage over tenth-ranked UW-Eau Claire. The Cardinals would only extend their lead on the final day, finishing with 136 points to outlast the Bluegolds in second with 125 points. Concordia-Moorhead turned in a third place finish, posting 117 points while 11th-ranked John Carroll University (85) was fourth and Ozarks College (78.5) rounded out the top-five. 

Christian Guzman looked to keep his momentum going in the 125-pound weight class and would face Anthony Zamora of Wheaton College in the semifinals. Guzman punched his ticket to the 125-pound title match by pinning Zamora late in the third period. In the championship bout, Guzman squared off with third-ranked Zac Blasioli of Millikin and would fall via 7-2 decision to take home second place. 

Josh Robison was still looking to stay alive in the backside of the bracket and in the consolation fourth round, Robison picked up a 10-1 major decision win over Sean Hall of Roanoke College. In the fifth round of the consolation bracket, Robison picked up another major decision win, defeating Sean Conway of Chicago by a 12-4  before punching his ticket to the third place match by pinning Dylan Le of Ohio Northern University.  Robison would turn in a fourth place finish after falling to Trevor Boryla of Augustana College in the third place match. 

In the 141-pound weight class, 13th-ranked Bradley Rosen faced Ethan Harsted of Wheaton in the semifinals but would fall via 3-1 sudden victory, putting him on the backside of the bracket. Rosen would bounce back in the consolation semifinals, defeating 12th-ranked Dakarai Clay of UW-Whitewater by a 4-1 decision to put him in the third place match. Rosen would finish the day with a 9-0 major decision win over Cade Lundeen of Concordia-Moorhead to take home third place. 

Charles Dojan looked to knock off 12th-ranked Zach Sato of UW-Eau Claire in the semifinals but would fall to Sato, putting him on the backside of the 149-pound bracket. Dojan bounced back in the consolation semifinals, defeating Jacob Prunty of Concordia-Moorhead via 4-0 decision to send him to the third place match. Dojan would claim third place after pinning 13th-ranked Ryan Fleck of Chicago. 

Casey Aikman kicked off the second day of action with a 11-3 major decision win over Eddie Williams of Alma College in the 174-pound consolation fourth round. Aikman picked up his second-straight major decision in the consolation fifth round, defeating Vinny Querciagrossa of Augustana before moving into the 3rd place match with a win via medical forfeit. Aikman would take home fourth place, falling to Zeth Gerkensmeyer of Nebraska Wesleyan University via 18-8 major decision. 

Payton Geigner faced sixth-ranked Niall Schoenfelder of UW-Eau Claire in the semifinals match and both wrestlers were tied at one, sending the match to sudden victory. Schoenfelder would takedown Geinger to send him to the backside of the 184-pound bracket. Geigner looked to get into the third place match with a win in the consolation semifinals but fell to Brian Torres of SUNY Cortland by a 5-2 decision. In the fifth place match, Geinger would fall to Trystan Altensey of UW-Stevens Point to take home sixth place. 

Brock Montford looked to stay alive in the backside of the 197-pound bracket and would hold off Chase Melton of UWSP in the consolation fourth round for a 4-3 decision win. Montford would head to the seventh place match after a narrow 9-7 decision loss to Gabriel Zierden of Concordia-Moorehead and. would take home seventh place following a medical forfeit win. 

After punching his ticket into the semifinals with a win by sudden victory, 14th-ranked Robby Bates looked to make the finals at 285-pounds but he would fall to Cole Fibranz of Chicago by a narrow 2-1 decision in the semifinals bout. In the consolation semifinals, Bates would defeat conference foe Daniel Skold of Augustana via 4-0 decision to put him in the third place match. Bates would finish the day with a narrow 1-0 decision win over Ka'Ron Lewis of Ozarks to take home third place. 

The Cardinals are idle until Thursday, Feb. 9 where they will welcome the eight other College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) institutions for the CCIW Championships. The action is set to start at 2 pm inside Gregory Arena. 

Download the free North Central Cardinals app, available for iOS and Android devices, to receive up-to-the-minute news, scores and updates on your favorite North Central teams. Click HERE for more information.