SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Oklahoma City University added Bryce Dicus and Kidd Gomez to its list of NAIA wrestling championships qualifiers as six Stars placed in the Briar Cliff Open on Saturday at the Newman Flanagan Center.
Gomez, a freshman from Noble, Okla., finished as runner-up at 125 pounds, while Dicus, a redshirt freshman from Catoosa, Okla., took third at 125. Nik Turner, a junior from Norman, Okla., took runner-up at 157 for the Stars, ranked 13th in the NAIA.
Jeremy Garner captured third place at 141, while Mark Meyer had a fourth-place finish at 157. Corey Johnson took fourth at 285.
Cameron Ream at 133 and Jake Mabry at 197 advanced to their fifth-place matches, but those matches were not contested.
Dicus and Gomez brought OCU’s NAIA Championships qualifiers to eight. Dicus, Garner, Gomez, Johnson, Meyer, Ream, Turner and Andrew Pontikes can represent the Stars in the NAIA Championships on March 4-6 at Abe Lemons Arena.
“We wrestled the best we have all year,” OCU coach Archie Randall said.
Trevor Dearden of Iowa State defeated Gomez by fall in the 125-pound final. Gomez pinned Kory Kistner of Morningside (Iowa) and beat Johnny Coleman of Grand View (Iowa) by major decision to advance to the championship bout.
Turner fell to Trent Weatherman by major decision in the 157-pound final. Turner, ranked fifth among NAIA 157-pounders, picked up a major-decision win and two wins by decision en route to the final.
Dicus defeated Brandon Goodwin in a technical fall in the third-place match at 125. Dicus rebounded after losing his first match of the day.
Garner, a junior from Oklahoma City, pinned 10th-ranked Nick Coffman of Grand View in 1:13 to finish third at 141. Garner also won twice by major decision Saturday.
Johnson, a senior from Oologah, Okla., fell 3-1 to Jeremy Johnson in the third-place bout at 285. Corey Johnson’s four victories Saturday came via fall, including a pin in 4:55 over Michael Roberts of Augustana (S.D.) to advance to the third-place match.
Issiah Sullivan of Grand View pinned Meyer in the third-place match at 157.
OCU meets Bacone at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Muskogee, Okla.
Results