Wrestling Loses to York in Season Opener
Photo Courtesy of Sower Staff
By Erik Cumley
It was a rough start for Concordia University Wrestling program as six Bulldogs started their collegiate career on Friday Oct 30. The Bulldogs lost their season opener against York college 30-17.
Senior Gabe Crawford came out strong and made a statement to start the season with a pin against sophomore Cody Pederson. Junior Mario Ybarra started his season off at 133 which is a change from last year when he wrestled at 125. His first match of the season would be a tough one facing off three-time national qualifier senior Pierce Medeiros. Throughout the match the only points were scored through escapes.
After regulation, the score was tied 2-2. In overtime neither opponent would give up pushing the match into four total overtimes. Ybarra would lose in the fourth overtime to a takedown by Medeiros. Ybarra knows it was a tough opponent and that there are always things to work on.
“He’s a tough kid, I have no doubts he’ll be a four-time national qualifier,” Ybarra said. “Obviously, there’s some things I can work on, but I love matches like that.”
As for the six Bulldogs starting their collegiate career three of them won their matches.
Freshman Timothy Huber was the first Concordia Bulldog to win on the night, he won in dominant fashion 7-3.
Freshmen Mason Garcia and Jacob Telles also won their matches. Garcia won with a pin in the second period, Telles would win his match 9-3.
Gabe Crawford started a little slow on the night getting taken down by Cody Pederson. Crawford quickly regained focus and reversed Pederson and put him to his back, earning the pin.
Head Coach Levi Calhoun was frustrated with some of the effort in the Bulldogs.
“It’s disappointing I think we have a better team than what we showed tonight, happy with some of our effort with some of our new guys.” Calhoun said.
Effort is the number one thing Calhoun looks for in a match and going into the night he told the young freshman he wanted their best effort.
“We have a bunch of kids that want to wrestle, but we need to have better effort. Their heart is there, but our effort wasn’t completely their tonight.” Calhoun said.
Next up for the Bulldogs is the York College Open on Oct. 31. The tournament is set to start at 9 a.m.
Their next duel will be on Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. at Mitchell South Dakota, their opponent will be Dakota Wesleyan University.
