KEARNEY, NEB. - The Oklahoma City men's wrestling team competed in the UNK Younes Hospitality Open on Saturday as the Stars were led by Hayden Brown earning the top finish for Oklahoma City.
Sophomore Hayden Brown became the top finisher for OCU as Brown won his first matches by major decision (17-3), (16-6), (17-3). Making his way into the quarterfinal round Brown continued his great success winning by a 10-6 decision over Cael Robb from Division II Nebraska-Kearney.
In the semifinal round, the sophomore defeated another Nebraska-Kearney member Garrett Willuweit by a 19-10 major decision to advance to finals. Brown's undefeated day came to a close after being beaten by a 16-0 tech fall to Andrew Harmon of Air Force Prep as Brown finished his dominant day going 5-1 and earning 19.0 team points in the Amateur 165-pound class.
In the Ametuer 174 class, OCU's Kobe Smith rattled off four straight wins to advance to the semifinals. Smith started by defeating Keenon Gonzales-Brown from Barton County by fall in 1:28. In the second round Smith won by a 7-2 decision over LaDainian Gordon from Trinidad state.
In the following round, Smith won in sudden victory over Zackary Small (SV-1 4-1) and followed up with a win in the quarterfinals with a 7-3 decision over Diego Duarte out of Adams State. Smith made his way into the semis where he was defeated for the first time in a 9-7 decision by Will Harmon from Western Wyoming College. Smith ended up appearing in the third-place match where lost by a 17-2 tech fall by Wyatt Reisz from Colorado School of the Mines. Smith ended with a fourth-place finish going 5-2 on the day and giving OCU 13.5 team points.
Keegan Luton, a junior from Mustang tallied three straight victories to get into the semifinals as Luton won the first two by major decision. After falling in the semis, the junior bounced back with an 8-4 decision victory over Ridge Briggs out of Wyoming. Luton finished going 4-2 and earning a fourth-place nod in the Elite 157-pound class.
The Stars will take a two-week break and get back to action on the first day of December taking on Wayland Baptist in Plainview, Texas.
