Jake Naig comes through on Senior Night as he rolls up Central's Christopher Reil on his way to a first period pin. Photo by Luke Shanno
MAC SLAVIN SPORTS EDITOR
The Wartburg wrestling team finished their dual season undefeated and continued their 132 straight IIAC dual win streak after topping Central 42-6 Saturday and Cornell 33-10 Tuesday.
“We don’t take anything for granted and I think that’s part of the success we’ve had. We expect a dog fight at every single weight and every point counts,” assistant coach Eric Keller said.
Top-ranked Aaron Wernimont (157 lbs.) pinned his Dutch opponent Jared Herman in 3:26. The win was Wernimont’s 73rd straight victory. No. 2 – ranked Jacob Naig (149 lbs.) pinned Christopher Reil in 2:17.
Grant Jenkins (174 lbs.) helped the Knights with a technical fall over Bobby Vineis and No. 2 Justin Hanson (165 lbs.) finished his match with a 15-5 major decision over Tommy Van Renterghen.
The Knights brought in victories by decision from Chris Tims (141 lbs.), Ben Scott (184 lbs.) and No. 4 – ranked John Helgerson (285 lbs.).
Earlier in the week the Knights headed down to Cornell as the No. 15 Rams tried to come away with the upset. The Rams were unsuccessful as the Knights came out on top 33-10.
Naig pinned Ryan Muinix in 4:05 to help put the Knights on top. Dylan Wrage (285 lbs.) also pinned his Ram opponent. Wrage pinned Robert Widmer in 6:23.
Three major decisions came from No. 6 Mark Kist (125 lbs.), Sean White (133 lbs.) and Wernimont. Kist topped Timothy Hood 11-3, while White wrestled to a 17-4 major decision. Wernimont finished his match 16-6 to put five points on the board for the Knights.
Hanson, Ben Scott and No. 6 Nick Shandri helped the Knights by topping their opponents with wins by decision.
The wins brought the Knights dual record to 15-2-1. The Knights will head to Luther Tuesday for the IIAC tournament. The Knights have been crowned champions for the past 16 years.
The top three finishers at the tournament in each weight class will advance to the NCAA Div. III National Tournament in Cedar Rapids in March.
“I think right now the whole goal is to fine tune everything. Every guy has stuff that still needs to be worked on and no one is exactly where they need to be just yet, and that’s our hope for the next couple weeks,” Miller said.
Going into the tournament the Knights will be the favorite to win as they are the top-ranked team in the Iowa Conference. Other nationally ranked teams attending the tournament are No. 4 Coe, No. 14 University of Dubuque, Cornell and No. 19 Luther.
Wrestling is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. at Luther’s Regents Center.