GALESBURG, Ill. – Oklahoma City University advanced four individuals to the finals in the Knox Invitational on Saturday at the T. Fleming Fieldhouse.
Mark Meyer, a junior from Midwest City, Okla., took the 157-pound title, while Kidd Gomez at 125, Kenny Wheeler at 141, Will Shelton-Delk at 149 and Jake Mabry at 197 finished as runners-up at their weights. Nine Stars placed and earned berths in the NAIA wrestling championships.
Other OCU wrestlers who placed were James Brigance, third at 184; Cameron Ream, fourth at 149; Hunter Muskrat, fifth at 141; and Heath Boyd, sixth at 165. Each of those individuals nabbed spots in the NAIA Championships on March 3-5 in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Stars finished second place as a team to North Central (Iowa) by a half point, 153-152.5.
“We wrestled really well,” OCU coach Archie Randall said. “If we continuously improve, we're on course. It was a really good experience.”
Meyer won 9-2 in the title bout against Bryce Alexander of Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.). Meyer cooled off Alexander, who had nailed three consecutive pins to advance to the final. Meyer collected two falls of his own on the way, beating Zach Altman of Dubuque (Iowa) in 2:08 and Devin Milheim of North Central (Ill.) in 2:26.
The second seed at 157, Meyer captured his second career title. Meyer had previously won the 165-pound title in the Briar Cliff Open on Feb. 7, 2009.
Gomez, a sophomore from Oklahoma City, fell 5-2 in the 125-pound championship to Ryan Banning of Truman (Mo.). Gomez made the final with a 12-4 win over Mark Drees of Wisconsin-Platteville. Gomez also pinned Chris Wedemeyer of Central of Iowa in 4:39.
Mabry, a senior from Gig Harbor, Wash., pinned Matt Regner of Augustana (Iowa) in 4:40 before nipping Andrew Bradley of North Central 2-1 in the semifinal match. Julian Silva of Concordia (Neb.) captured the 197-pound title in a 10-3 decision over Mabry.
Shelton-Delk, a junior from Sperry, Okla., pinned teammate Ream in 2:48 in the 149-pound semifinals. Central's Joseph Atwell won 15-7 over Shelton-Delk in the title match.
Wheeler, a sophomore from Ponca City, Okla., won two matches by a 4-3 count before getting pinned by Andrew Zobac of North Central.
The Stars face Wayland Baptist (Texas) at 5:30 p.m. and Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Ouachita Baptist and Wayland Baptist meet at 7 p.m., and between duals will be a sumo wrestling fraternity challenge.
