Contact: Sam Fretto, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (Jan. 9, 2026)- Entering the National Wrestling Coaches' Association (NWCA) National Duals as the seventh seed, the North Central College men's wrestling team advanced to day two with a 2-1 record, defeating #10 Coe College 25-15 in round one, before falling to #2 Augsburg University in the second round and wrapping the day up with a 23-17 victory over #9 Central College inside of the UNI-Dome on Friday.
Top-ranked 125-pound Chip Guzman faced Coe's #4-ranked Brayden Parke in the opening match of the duals, where Guzman reigned supreme with a 17-8 major decision. The 133-pound bout featured #1-ranked Ethan Spacht against #5-ranked Brody Neighbor, which ended in an 8-0 major decision in favor of Spacht to give North Central the 8-0 lead. Aboo Assaf lost his opening match of the day in a tight 13-12 decision to Dresden Grimm in the 141-pound match. 149-pound Tyler Starr put North Central back on the board with a ranked victory over #13 Ty Koedam by a 14-3 major decision.
Coe picked up six points with a pinfall of Dan Ward in the 157-pound match to make the score 12-9, North Central. Following the loss, the Cardinals rattled off three consecutive wins to put the dual out of reach, with a 3-2 decision for Mekhi Cave in the 165-pound match, an 18-3 technical fall victory by Jake Luce at 174 pounds, and an AJ Frescura technical fall in the 184-pound bout to put North Central at 25 points. The Cardinals dropped the 197-pound and 285-pound matches by decisions as Casey Aikman and Will Erbeck fell.
Taking on #2-ranked Augsburg, the Cardinals jumped out to a hot start, winning the first three matches and taking a 12-0 lead. Guzman began the dual with a 16-0 technical fall, followed by a Spacht 9-1 major decision and lastly a Joshua Robison 5-2 sudden victory win in the 141-pound bout. Following the 3-0 start, North Central dropped the remaining seven matches in the dual, with Assaf, Aikman, and Cave getting pinned; Starr and Frescura dropping their match by a major decision; and Luce and Erbeck falling by decision for the 32-12 loss to Augsburg.
In a must-win dual, the Cardinals took on #9 Central College and stayed alive to day two with a 23-17 victory beginning with a pair of technical fall wins from Guzman and Spacht to deliver a 10-0 advantage. Central stormed back to take a 14-10 lead, winning the following four matches. Wrestling for a second time in the day, Assaf fell to #2 141-pound wrestler Pierre Baldwin by a 9-1 major decision; #10-ranked Cade Siebrecht followed it up with a decision over Starr in the 149-pound bout. Wrestling at the 157-pound weight class, Kayle Bearson took on 15th-ranked Christian Stanek and fell by a 17-5 major decision. The streak continued into the 165-pound match as Cave fell to Kevin Hogan by a 14-7 decision.
Luce knotted the dual up at 14-14, coming away victorious in the 174-pound match, knocking off Abe Bushong by a 13-4 major decision. Frescura (184 pounds) and Aikman (197 pounds) iced the dual for North Central, taking a technical fall win and a major decision win to give North Central the 23-14 lead. Aidan Trujillo wrestled the last match of the day for the Cardinals and came up short against Jamal Neeway in a 7-2 decision.
North Central will take on UW-La Crosse to kick off day two of the NWCA National Duals from the UNI-Dome at 9 a.m.
