DES MOINES, Iowa – Following the Day 1 of competition at the 2019 NAIA Wrestling Championships, the No. 10 University of Providence didn't have exactly the day they were expecting as only two Argos will compete during Saturday's competition.
No. 1-seed Adrian Lyons-Lopez represents the Argos on the front side of the 165-pound bracket, while No. 9-seed Casey Dobson stays alive at 165-pounds, securing his spot in the consolation quarterfinals on Saturday morning.
Lyons-Lopez has had a stellar run at nationals thus far as he secured two falls and an overtime victory to advance to the championship semifinals on Saturday.
During his first-round matchup, Lyons-Lopez fell down by two early, but escape to cut the deficit to one before scoring a takedown that he would eventually turn into a first-period pin over Jonathan Blackwell of Baker University after two minutes and 37 seconds of competition.
Lyons Lopez tallied his second pin of the tournament in the round of 16 as he defeated Stephon Gray of Midland University. Both wrestlers scored an escape and a takedown over the first three minutes of competition to head into the second period tied. Lyons-Lopez tallied three more points, before Gray would earn an escape to sit at a 6-4 advantage. However, Lyons-Lopez flexed his dominance in the fleeting seconds of the second period as he earned a takedown with 24 seconds remaining that he would eventually turn into a pin with eight seconds on the clock to advance to the quarterfinals.
Against No. 8-seed Nate Pristavec of Brewton-Parker College, Lyons-Lopez fell down by two but rallied in the final minute of the first period to secure an escape and a takedown to lead by one, 3-2. He extended his lead to two following his choice of bottom to open the second period, 4-2. Pristavec cut the deficit in half with an escape of his own to open the third period, 4-3, but one more escape from Lyons-Lopez and a last second takedown from Pristavec sent things into overtime, 5-5. Lyons-Lopez tallied four points to Pristavec to secure a 9-7 victory during the third sudden victory period and secure his spot in the semifinals.
Lyons-Lopez will face No. 5-seed Ryan Niven of Grand View during his semifinal matchup on Saturday.
TJ Baun earned a first-round victory and advance to the round of eight in the consolation bracket before falling to the CCC Tournament 141-pound Champion, not advancing to Saturday's competition.
Against Campbellsville's No. 10-seed Jaedin Sklapsky, the bout remained even at one following the first two periods of the bout. However, Baun took things away over the final two minutes as he trailed 2-1, but secured an escape to tie things up, followed by a takedown with less than a minute to go and an extra point for garnering over a minute of riding time to secure a 6-3 opening-round victory.
During his second-round matchup, Baun faced Ethan Owen of Southeastern. During the opening three minutes of the bout, Owen tallied a take down and a four-point nearfall to take a 6-0 lead headed into the second period. In the following period, Owen defeated Baun after a 3:57-minute pin.
In his first consolation round match, Baun matched up with No. 8-seed David Salazar of Embry Riddle, who defeated Baun in the consolation semifinals to deny Baun of a third or four-place finish during the CCC Tournament. However, Baun got the upper hand in Des Moines. Salazard scored first with a takedown, but Baun was able to cut the deficit to one following an escape to close out the first period, 2-1. Salazar chose bottom and a minute later, Baun secured a pin over Salavar to take the 4:03 fall victory.
Baun then matched up with CCC Tournament fourth-place finisher, Simpson's Armand Molina. Following a scoreless first period, Baun scored a takedown and a four-point nearfall, while Molina only tallied a pair of escapes to take a 6-2 lead after five minutes. He continued to show his dominance as he secured an escape and a takedown in the final period to clinch a 9-2 decision.
Baun then faced CCC 141-pound Champion and No. 5-seed Devin Poppen of Southern Oregon. Poppen earned a takedown during the opening period to lead by two. A second-round reversal would tie things up at two after five minutes. Poppen chose bottom and tallied an escape to take a one-point lead, before Baun would tie things up yet again with a stalling penalty point to close out the seven minutes. However, Poppen held the riding point advantage to secure the bonus point that would give him the 4-3 victory and eliminate Baun.
No. 9-seed Shonn Roberts secured a spot in the quarterfinals, before falling in two straight matches to fall out of the tournament on Friday.
Roberts dominated in his opening match, leading 10-2 after three minutes and then scoring nine unanswered in the second period in route to a huge 19-2 technical fall over Reinhardt's Dawson Hunt.
During the round of 16, Roberts took on Indiana Tech's No. 8-seed Robert Humphrey. Roberts fell behind 5-2 heading into the final period. Roberts chose bottom to open the third, tallying an escape, but Humphrey earned another takedown to lead 7-3. However, Roberts kicked things into gear over the final minute of play as he earned an escape, a stalling penalty point, and secured a last second takedown to send things into overtime. During the sudden victory period, Roberts tallied a takedown to take the 9-7 win.
In the quarterfinal match, Roberts matched up with the No. 1-seed of the weight class in Cumberlands' Tres Leon. Roberts struck first with a takedown 13 seconds into the bout, but seven-straight points gave Leon a significant lead. Roberts earned a reversal to close out the period down by three, 7-4. A pair of escapes and a takedown for Leon kept the advantage at three, 9-6. Roberts garnered a penalty point for stalling to bring the match within two, 9-7, however Leon secured an escape and a takedown over the final 45 seconds of the bout to fall 12-7.
In the consolation bracket, Roberts took on Lindsey Wilson's No. 6-seed Latrell Davis. Roberts took a 2-1 lead after three minutes. A pair of escape for Roberts and a pair of takedowns for Davis gave him the slight advantage, 5-4, headed into the final two minutes. Davis tallied another takedown and an escape to extend his lead to four with less than a minute to play. Roberts would score one more escape, but it just wasn't enough as Davis would knock Roberts out.
No. 9-seed Casey Dobson advanced to a quarterfinal matchup but didn't secure a spot in the semifinal round. However, Dobson continued to secure victories as he advanced to Saturday's competition in the consolation bracket at 157 pounds.
In a rematch of the CCC Tournament third-place match, Dobson got the last laugh as he secured a 4-2 sudden victory over Menlo's Kevin James. Following two periods, Dobson held a narrow one-point lead, 1-0. James opted for bottom to open the final period to try and tie things, but instead earned a reversal to take the lead, 2-1. Dobson would escape from James to score the equalizer that would send things to overtime. With 17 seconds remaining in the sudden victory period, Dobson tallied a takedown to capture the 4-2 rematch victory.
During the round of 16, Dobson earned a narrow 3-2 decision over Midland University's No. 8-seed Dominique Evans. Dobson tallied a takedown, that Evans would escape from to take a 2-1 lead after the opening period. Evans would knot things at two following the middle period, but a final-round escape would be the difference as Dobson would advance to the round of eight.
Dobson then matched up with No. 1-seed Nosomy Pozo of Life University. Following a scoreless first, Dobson and Pozo both notched a point to head into the final two minutes tied at one. Both wrestlers would tack on another point to try and decide things in overtime. The sudden victory period ended with no score change, but Pozo would choose bottom for the second tiebreaker period and tally an escape to take the narrow 3-2 victory over Dobson.
In the consolation bracket, Dobson remained alive after earning an 8-3 decision over Life University's Syd Oh. Dobson held a 2-0 advantage after the opening three minutes and maintained the lead 4-2 headed into the final period. Dobson scored an escape and a takedown, before Oh would get an escape of his own, but it was too little too late as Dobson held the riding time advantage to eventually take the 8-3 victory.
No. 6-seed John Hensley nearly reached the semifinals, before dropping two-straight matches to end his run in the tournament on Friday.
Following his first-round bye, Hensley dominated his way to a huge 24-6 technical fall victory over No. 11-seed Riley Williams of Wayland Baptist.
During the quarterfinals, Hensley dropped a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to No. 3-seed David Dow of Baker University. Hensley fell down 3-0 following the first two periods, but couldn't get a comeback going as he would tally an escape after choosing bottom to enter the final two minutes and eventually take the 3-1 defeat.
In the consolation bracket, Hensley matched up with Brewton-Parker's No. 9-seed David Hamil. Holding a 1-0 lead headed into the final two minutes of play. Hamil scored three points to open the final period. Hensley rallied to score an escape, but it proved not enough as he would eventually fall 3-2.
No. 2-seed Matt Hopkins earned an opening round pin but fell in the second round of the championship bracket and then dropped his first consolation round match to end his run at nationals on Friday.
Hopkins built up a 10-0 lead over Hinton Bolinger of Reinhardt, which included a takedown and a pair of four-point nearfalls before earning the 2:35-minute pin to advance in the winner's bracket.
During his second match of the day against Life University's Brandon Hill, Hopkins choose bottom following a 0-0 first period to earn an escape and take a 1-0 lead. Hill tallied a takedown halfway through the period to take the lead from Hopkins, but Hopkins earned another escape four seconds later to knot things at two headed into the final two minutes. Unfortunately, Hill earned one final takedown with 45 seconds remaining in the bout to defeat Hopkins 4-2.
Hopkins then matched up against Brix Brickley of Bethany in the consolation bracket. After falling down 3-0 following a takedown and an escape, Hopkins earned a takedown with a minute left in the period to cut the deficit down to 1, however Brickley escaped at the 17-second mark to extend his lead back to two after the opening period. The match remained even after the second period, but Brickley got the upper hand in the final two minutes as he started on top to pin Hopkins at the 5:35-minute mark and end his tournament run short.
Justin Harbison fell out of competition, following two victories in the consolation bracket.
During the opening round, Harbison fell in a 4-1 decision to Cumberland's No. 4-seed Quandre Chisolm. After falling down by two headed into the second period, Harbison cut the deficit in half after earning a penalty point for stalling to make it 2-1. However, Chisolm would leave Harbison scoreless over the final two minutes as he tallied two more points to take the 4-2 victory.
Harbison defeated Lindsey Wilson's Raynel Brown in his first consolation-round match. After a scoreless standstill following five minutes of wrestling, Brown tallied an escape to lead 2-0, before Harbison would score three-straight and earn a bonus point for riding time to secure the 4-2 win.
Over No. 11-seed Phil Rassmussen of Morningside, Harbison earned a huge first-period pin following his first takedown at the 1:11-minute mark.
But Harbison would eventually meet his match again with No. 8-seed Shawn Beeson of Graceland. Down 2-0 headed into the final two minutes of play, Beeson would tally three points to Harbison's sole escape and knock him out of competition.
Wrestling on Saturday will begin at 9 a.m. MST (10 a.m. CST). Each mat and every matchup will be livestreamed through
trackwrestling.com, while the championship round will be streamed on
ESPN3. For more information on the NAIA Championships,
click here.