Bronchos Fifth In National Tourney

ST. LOUIS (March 12) – No. 6-ranked Central Oklahoma advanced five individuals to the semifinals to put itself in the thick of a crowded team race after first-day action in the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships Friday at the America's Center.

The Bronchos are fifth in the standings with 42 points. Top-ranked Nebraska-Kearney leads with 58 points, followed by No. 3 St. Cloud State (51.5), No. 2 Lindenwood (43.5) and No. 5 McKendree (42.5).

Making the semis for UCO were 125-pounder Paxton Rosen, 133 Tanner Cole, 157 Ty Lucas, 184 Heath Gray and 197 Dalton Abney. The Bronchos had two other qualifiers, but both 149 Gabe Johnson and 174 Wyatt Jordan were eliminated with consecutive losses.

The tournament resumes at 12 p.m. Saturday with the semifinals and completion of all consolation matches, with the championship finals set for 7 p.m.

"Our guys wrestled hard today and we grinded out some good wins," head coach Todd Steidley said. "We've positioned ourselves to at least have a chance in the team race, but we don't have a lot of room for error since some of the other teams have a few more guys still in the tournament.

"We need to come out tomorrow and push all five into the finals, but if that doesn't happen our guys need to bounce back and finish as high as they can."

Rosen, Gray and Abney all picked up two wins on the day, while Cole and Lucas followed first-round byes with mild quarterfinal upsets in moving forward.

The third-seeded Rosen was taken down for the first time this season early in his opening-round match with Ashland's Christian Wellman, but dominated after that in winning 7-2. He followed that with a 7-4 triumph over sixth-seeded Charlie Lenox of Gannon, breaking an early 2-2 tie with a reverse.

Rosen will meet No. 2 Cole Laya of West Liberty in the semis.

Cole avenged a 3-2 Super Regional IV Tournament loss to Tanner Hitchcock with an overwhelming quarterfinal performance. The fifth-seeded Cole struck for two first-period takedowns and added a four-point near-fall in the final seconds to jump ahead 8-1 and cruised to a 12-3 major decision over the fourth-seeded Hitchcock.

Cole will face No. 1 Garrett Vos of St. Cloud State in the semis.

The fifth-seeded Lucas toppled No. 4 Chase Luensman of Upper Iowa 7-3 in the quarterfinals, striking for the opening takedown with 30 seconds left in the first period. He added a takedown and two-point near-fall in the second to go up 6-2 and cruised in from there.

Lucas will go against No. 1 James Wimer of Findlay in Saturday's semifinals.

Gray stretched his winning streak to 39 with a pair of easy wins. The top seeded senior piled up five takedowns in a 12-3 major decision – getting the last one just ahead of the final buzzer to earn the bonus win – and added two more in a methodical 7-3 quarterfinal victory.

Gray will take on McKendree's fourth-seeded Dan Fillipek in the semis.

The third-seeded Abney squeezed out a pair of tight one-point wins. He trimmed Lander's Darius Parker 3-2 in the first round on an escape in the first tiebreaker and edged No. 6 Donald Negus of Colorado Mesa 2-1 in the quarterfinals by earning a riding time point with 1:25 of advantage time.

Abney will meet unseeded Joel Leise of Gannon in the semis.

Jordan had two tough losses on the day, falling to sixth-seeded Andrew Sams of Indianapolis 2-1 in the first round before being ousted 4-2 in the consolations by No. 4 Josh Jones of McKendree.

Team Standings (top 10)
1, Nebraska-Kearney 58; 2, St. Cloud State 51.5; 3, Lindenwood 43.5; 4, McKendree 42.5; 5, Central Oklahoma 42; 6, West Liberty 35; 7, Ashland 25.5; 8, Gannon 19.5; 9, Minnesota State-Mankato 17; 10, Colorado School of Mines 16.

Championship Quarterfinals
125 – Paxton Rosen, UCO, dec. Charlie Lenox, Gannon, 7-4.
133 – Tanner Cole, UCO, major dec. Tanner Hitchcock, Lindenwood, 12-3.
157 – Ty Lucas, UCO, dec. Chase Luensman, Upper Iowa, 7-3.
184 – Heath Gray, UCO, dec. Austin Eldridge, Nebraska-Kearney, 7-3.
197 – Dalton Abner, UCO, dec. Donald Negus, Colorado Mesa, 2-1.

Championship First Round
125 – Rosen, UCO, dec. Christian Wellman, Ashland, 7-2.
149 – Kyle Rathman, Minnesota State-Mankato, dec. Gabe Johnson, UCO, 10-3.
174 – Andrew Sams, Indianapolis, dec. Wyatt Jordan, UCO, 2-1.
184 – Gray, UCO, major dec. Caden Steffen, Southwest Minnesota, 12-3.
197 – Abney, UCO, dec. Darius Parker, Lander, 3-2 (TB-1).

Consolation First Round
149 – Sean O'Hearon, Lake Erie, pinned Johnson, UCO, 4:13.

Consolation Second Round
174 – Josh Jones, McKendree, dec. Jordan, UCO, 4-2.

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Players Mentioned

Dalton Abney: 6' 1"; Sophomore; 197

Tanner Cole: 5' 6"; Junior

Heath Gray: 5' 11"; Senior; 184

Ty Lucas: 5' 9"; Junior; 157

Wyatt Jordan: 5' 11"; Senior

Gabe Johnson: 5' 8"; Freshman

Paxton Rosen: 5' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Dalton Abney
: 6' 1"; Sophomore; 197

Tanner Cole
: 5' 6"; Junior

Heath Gray
: 5' 11"; Senior; 184

Ty Lucas
: 5' 9"; Junior; 157

Wyatt Jordan
: 5' 11"; Senior

Gabe Johnson
: 5' 8"; Freshman

Paxton Rosen
: 5' 3"; Junior