Contact: Sam Fretto, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Dec. 13, 2025)- At home for the 61st Annual North Central College Invitational, the North Central College men's wrestling team took third place of 17 teams, with many ranked teams traveling to North Central to compete in the tournament. Chip Guzman and Ethan Spacht each won their weight class, while North Central as a whole saw six wrestlers place top six in their brackets on Saturday at the Wilde Res/Rec Center. 

Top-ranked 125-pounder Guzman advanced to the second round with a bye, where he met Owen Brotherton of Elmhurst University. Guzman recorded two four-point near falls in the first period and cruised to a 15-0 technical fall. He ended the bout in the second period with an escape and a takedown. In the quarterfinal, Guzman pinned Kendall Kurtz of Coe College in 1:58 to advance to the semifinal. There, Guzman faced No. 7 Andrew Marchese of Castleton (Vt.) and won by 17-3 technical fall. Guzman claimed the championship with his second pin of the day, defeating No. 5 Andrew Punzalan of Wabash in 2:39.

Spacht, the top seed of the tournament and No. 2 nationally ranked 133-pound wrestler, earned a first-round bye and then pinned Malik DeBow of Coe in 42 seconds. In the quarterfinal, Spacht defeated Aidan Shufelt of Castleton in a 5-0 decision. He dominated Chance Suddeth of Augsburg in the semifinal with a 15-0 technical fall, highlighted by three first-period near falls. In the championship match, Spacht pinned No. 7 Brody Neighbor of Coe in 2:39 to win the 133-pound bracket.

At 141 pounds, Matthew Maldonado placed fourth with a 4-2 record. He advanced to the quarterfinals by pinning Jordan Schmidt of Coe at 6:28 and winning in sudden victory over Kalani Khiev of Aurora University. Maldonado fell to Augsburg's Cade Willis in a 2-1 decision decided by riding time. In the consolation bracket, he defeated Viktor Banda of Castleton in a 4-1 decision and Karter Guzman of Coe with a 1-0 decision before losing to No. 13 Dresden Grimm of Coe by pinfall in the third-place match.. 

Jake Luce finished fourth at 174 pounds, scoring pins in his first two matches to reach the quarterfinals. He pinned Aurora's Denim Ashley in 2:24 and Castleton's Lucas Schell in 1:32. Luce dropped a 2-0 decision to Nick Alexander of Augsburg in the quarterfinals but rebounded with a 14-11 decision over Corey Bradley of Elmhurst and a 15-3 major decision over No. 7 Jaylen Young of Wabash. Luce fell to Jermaine Butler of UW-Whitewater in a 3-1 decision in the third-place match.

AJ Frescura placed fourth in the 197-pound bracket as the No. 5 seed. After a first-round bye, Frescura defeated Spencer Watson of Wabash in a decision scored 9-3. He lost a 1-0 quarterfinal decision to No. 4 Ethan Swenson of Augsburg. In consolation, Frescura earned an 11-0 major decision over Connor Kelly of Elmhurst and defeated teammate Casey Aikman in a high scoring 20-15 decision. The third place bout featured a rematch between Frescura and Swenson, where Swenson prevailed again in an 11-6 decision. 

Aikman finished fifth at 197 pounds. After a first-round bye, Aikman defeated Tyler Haydon (UW-Whitewater) in a 16-7 major decision. In the quarterfinals, Aikman maintained control of Haydn Ball (Wabash) and advanced to the semifinals behind a 25-10 technical fall. Aikman came up short in the semifinals, getting knocked to the consolation bracket with a 12-4 major decision loss to Josh Negron (Castleton). Aikman moved into the fifth place bout following the loss to Frescura and defeated Reuban Vazquez (Concordia Wisconsin) with a 21-6 technical fall. 

Augsburg took home first prize in the North Central College Invite with 178.5 points while Coe took second place with 130 points. North Central placed third with 105.5 points behind Guzman's and Spacht's championship runs. Guzman was awarded Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Meet, for his efforts going 4-0 with two technical falls and two pinfalls. 

The Cardinals return to action in 2026, when they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the NWCA National Duals held on Friday, Jan. 9 to Saturday, Jan. 10.