Wrestling Competes in Pair of Opens
DES MOINES, Iowa and MARSHALL, Mo. – Avila wrestling split its squads to compete in a pair of open tournaments on Saturday: the Avila women traveled to Iowa to compete in the Grand View Open while the men stayed a bit closer to home to compete in the Missouri Valley Open.
A small Eagle squad was on hand to compete at the Grand View Open, hosted by one of the best programs in collegiate women's wrestling. As she has for much of this semester, Byanca Cook led the way for the Eagles, winning a trio of matches to place fourth at 136.
Cook won her first two matches (tech fall and decision) to advance all the way to the quarterfinals, dropped that match and rebounded to defeat Iowa Central's Hadlie Hood in a 6-3 decision. That pushed her into the third place match, where she fell to Corrie Williams of Snow College to wrap up a fourth-place finish. Jada Meredith also won a pair of matches and just missed out on placing at 191.
Meanwhile, the Avila men had the chance to get a lot of different wrestlers legitimate experience at the Missouri Valley Open on Saturday morning. No Eagles placed, but seven different wrestlers won a match, and three won three, against a strong field that featured wrestlers from across the collegiate landscape.
In a large field at 133, Ryan McNeel had a strong day for the Eagles, rebounding from losing his first match by reeling off three victories in a row, including a pair of pins, before falling to Missouri Baptist's Daryl Mills in the consolation rounds to end his run just outside of the placement rounds.
Shaun Gates has been strong since rejoining the Avila lineup this semester and continued that run of form by winning three straight matches, much in the same way McNeel did. Gates lost his opening match, received a bye, and then reeled off three straight victories, all by decision, finishing just outside of placing at 174.
Garine Gibson has worked his way into the KCAC conversation at heavyweight in recent weeks and turned in another strong showing this weekend. Gibson won his first match of the day in a 14-4 decision, lost his next one but responded by winning his next two to advance in the consolation round, where he was defeated by Cole Gripka, who wrestles at Missouri but was wrestling unattached, for the second time.
Elsewhere, Tucker Black (184) and Jett Merlo (165) both won a pair of matches, while Blake Becker (174) and Corey Holmes (197) won one.
Up next, the Avila men are off before the KCAC Championships begin, while the Avila women have one more tournament on the schedule: the Warrior Open hosted by Midland on Sunday, February 12. Stay tuned to avilaathletics.com for details on how to watch and follow along.
