EDMOND – A trio of falls – two in the first period – helped stake Central Oklahoma to a big lead and the top-ranked Bronchos coasted past No. 12 Grand Valley State 30-21 Friday night at Hamilton Field House.
UCO took six of the first eight matches with the three falls and two other bonus-point wins in building an insurmountable 30-9 lead before the Lakers posted falls in the final two bouts to arrange the final score.
It was the ninth straight victory for the Bronchos, who improved to 10-1 in stretching their school-record home winning streak to 30 in a row.
"We did some good things and beat a really good team," head coach Todd Steidley said. "I thought we wrestled hard for the most part, but we need to clean some things up in a few areas to get where we want to be."
UCO got falls from 133 Jason Henschel, 141 Josh Taylor and 157 Gabe Johnson while 174 Hunter Jump had a technical fall, 184 Branson Britten a major decision and 149 Bam West a decision. The Bronchos lost four matches, three by fall.
The Lakers grabbed the early lead in the dual when third-ranked Jack Parker downed No. 6 Eli Kirk 12-8, but UCO rebounded with three falls in the next four weights to surge in front to stay.
Henschel got that streak going with a dominating performance. The unbeaten and top-ranked senior (11-0) built a 14-1 lead before taking Jak Keller to his back late in the match and getting the fall at the 6:23 mark.
Taylor didn't waste time in scoring a second straight fall for the Bronchos, turning an early takedown into a pin in just 1:18. West made it three straight, getting a pair of takedowns in an easy 8-2 win.
Johnson got his third fall of the season in just 1:45 after striking for a quick takedown to end the four-match streak that put UCO on top 21-3. It was the 23rd straight win – and the 51st in 52 outings – for the top-ranked senior star.
GVSU got a fall at 165 before the Bronchos put the dual away with runaway wins at 174 and 184.
Jump gave up an early takedown to Trammel Robinson before rattling off 15 straight points to take a commanding 15-3 lead. He let Robinson go with 40 seconds left, then got a takedown at 0:20 and controlled him the rest of the way to add a riding time point for a 19-4 technical fall.
Britten scored takedowns in each of the three periods while adding an escape and riding time point to notch an 11-3 major decision.
The Lakers won the final two matches, but the outcome had already been decided.
UCO goes on the road for back-to-back duals at New Mexico Highlands and Colorado State-Pueblo next weekend before returning home Jan. 30 to host Drury.
UCO 30, Grand Valley State 21
125 – Jack Parker, GVSU, dec. Eli Kirk, 12-8.
133 – Jason Henschel, UCO, pinned Jak Keller, 6:23.
141 – Josh Taylor, UCO, pinned Preston LeFevre, 1:18.
149 – Bam West, UCO, dec. Eran Marx, 8-2.
157 – Gabe Johnson, UCO, pinned Maclain Morency, 1:45.
165 – Caden Jacobs, GVSU, pinned Cooper Zickefoose, 4:33.
174 – Hunter Jump, UCO, technical fall Trammel Robinson, 19-4 (7:00).
184 – Branson Britten, UCO, major dec. Bradley Mayse, 11-3.
197 – Brayden Mirjavadi, GVSU, pinned Emmanuel Skillings, 0:48.
Hvy – Carter Blough, GVSU, pinned Ryan Nichols, 5:29.
