The Iowa Central Community college put on a strong performance in the semifinal round to move up to the #1 spot in the team race, after they placed three in tonight’s finals. Leading ICCC’s charge are a pair of freshmen in #1 ranked Patrick Downey (197) and #3 Tyler Hoffman (184). Downey’s match will have a big impact on team race, as he will face #2 Clackamas’ Ihoghama Odighizuwa, who is ranked 3rd at 197. Hoffman will face his weight’s #1 ranked wrestler in Ellsworth’s Matt Hurford. #9 Jason Alfau was the surprise finalist for ICCC as he downed his weight classes #1 ranked wrestler to reach the finals.
In addition to the three finalists for ICCC Alex DelaCruz (125), Richie Lewis (157), and Chris Ballard (285) will all wrestle for 3rd at their weights. Teddie Harvey (149) and Ryan Niven (165) will also go for 5th.
Both ICCC and Clackamas have eight All-Americans, but Clackamas only has two in tonight’s finals. As we already mentioned, Downey will have a head-to-head match with a Clackamas opponent. ICCC can also get help from several Iowa colleges, if their wrestlers win their wrestle-backs.
Team Scores after the Semifinal round:
1. Iowa Central Community College 136
2. Clackamas Community College 127.5
3. North Iowa Area Community College 103
4. North Idaho College 102
5. Northeast Oklahoma 86.5
6. Ellsworth Community College 72
9. Iowa Western Community College 60.5
12. Iowa Lakes Community College 53
Sitting in 3rd is NIACC who placed all three of their semifinalist in tonight’s finals. Jake Marlin (141) finally had his bonus wins streak snapped as he defeated #6 Clay Archer 4-0 to advance to the finals. #1 Nosomy Pozo (149) and #2 Yoanse Mejias (157) each defeated a pair of Northeast Oklahoma wrestlers to reach the finals at their weights. The lone wrestler still going on the consolation side is Shiquan Hall (133) who will wrestle for 3rd at his weight. 125 Paul Mascarenas lost his semifinal against #1 Rodriguez, and lost his next match to ICCC’s DelaCruz. He has already injury defaulted so he will take 6th.
As mentioned Ellsworth placed Hurford in the 184 finals, and he will be joined by teammate Deshun Brown at 125. Brown has won all of his matches by at least 7 points so far. He will face a stiff test in taking on #1 Rodriguez next round, who was the OW in their regional qualifier. Matthew Rodriguez-Kirkland (165) is the third All-American for Ellsworth, and he will go for 3rd.
Five Iowa Western wrestlers will have their All-American finishes determined tonight with Oscar Ramirez (149) being the lone finalist for Western. Matt Walker (174) leads his team on the consolation side as he will go for 3rd and Clay Stine (133), Jhalen Flanders (184), and Luke Nohns (197) will all wrestle for 7th.
Iowa Lakes two All-Americans each had contrasting rounds, as #1 Alfredo Rodriguez (125) won his third straight match by bonus with a 22-7 technical fall in his semifinal. #1 Andres Gonzales (141) was unable to match his teammate and lost 4-1 to ICCC’s Jason Alfau. Gonzales then won his consolation semifinal 19-12 to advance to the third place match.