Cal Poly Wrestling sent seven wrestlers to compete at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships tournament from Sunday, Dec. 29 through Monday, Dec. 30 at NOW Arena.
Intermat’s 20th-ranked tournament team placed 23rd at the Midlands with 12.5 total team points.
Cal Poly is looking to build on the momentum from last year’s Ken Kraft competition, in which they had a program-record three placing wrestlers and a program second-best 13th-ranked finish.
Fighting on in Day One action
In the first day of action, nearly half of the Cal Poly wrestlers competing in the two-day tournament at Northwestern secured a spot for Monday’s bouts.
Redshirt sophomores Koda Holeman, No. 30 ranked 125-pounder, and Cash Stewart at 165 pounds, both won their first two matches before being knocked into the consolation bracket in the quarterfinals.
Holeman was the only ranked Cal Poly wrestler participating in the tournament.
Holeman cruised to two victories in his first two bouts, taking down Harvard’s Logan Brzozowski in an 8-4 decision and pinning Indiana’s Blaine Frazier in the third period of the second round.
His quarterfinal matchup against No. 2-seeded and No. 17-ranked Max Gallagher from Penn State was closely contested, going into overtime at 1-1. Holeman would fight but ultimately come out of the bout on the wrong side of the 4-1 sudden victory.
Despite the loss, he secured his spot for day two in the 125-pound consolation bracket, where he will face Princeton’s Marc-Ant McGowan for his first bout of Monday’s action.
Stewart found similar success at 165 pounds, securing two decision victories over Penn State’s Reed Fullmer and Jay Nivison from Michigan State in the first two rounds.
His journey on day one also ended at the quarterfinals in a technical fall at the hands of Northwestern’s No. 19 ranked 165-pounder Maxx Mayfield.
Stewart’s day two will begin against Ohio State’s E`Than Birden and will look for placement spots with crucial Monday victories.
Redshirt junior heavyweight Cole Jackson got off to a hot start, taking down Jacob Christensen of Northern Illinois in an 8-5 decision.
However, his next opponent would set him back, as in the second round, he was handed his only loss by No. 22 ranked heavyweight Bryan Caves of Central Michigan.
In the consolation bracket, Jackson continued his tear, scoring a 5-4 decision over Stanford’s Jackson Mankowski and a technical fall victory against West Virginia’s Michael Wolfgram to secure his spot going into Monday’s action.
Other Mustangs also contributed to the team’s standing with points on day one, including redshirt junior Abe Hinrichsen at 157 pounds with his round-one victory against Illinois’ Antonio Alvarado.
Redshirt freshman 174-pounder Blake Hinrichsen and freshman Alek Vanbebber at 141 pounds also fought their way to a victory in the consolation bracket before being knocked out of the competition.
With three wrestlers remaining, Cal Poly has multiple chances to place on day two and take home a positive Midlands championship result.
Quick Day Two showing
All three Mustangs fighting for a placement spot on Day Two of the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships could not secure a victory Monday morning, ending Cal Poly’s run at the prestigious tournament.
With the bouts finalized, the Mustangs currently sit in 23rd place out of 25 teams, with 12.5 points.
After going 2-1 on Sunday and dropping into the consolation bracket, Holeman was defeated by Princeton’s Marc-Ant McGowan 20-3 by technical fall.
At 165 pounds, Stewart took on Ohio State’s E`Than Birden, looking to advance to 3-1 at the tournament.
The bout was 1-0 in favor of Stewart until the third period when Birden notched a takedown and finalized the match by a 6-1 decision.
The lone Mustang remaining, Jackson, was set against Indiana’s Nick Pavlechko, the No. 8 seeded heavyweight wrestler at the tournament.
Jackson got ahead 4-2 with a big first-period takedown but could not hang on in the final two periods and fell 12-5.
The loss marks the end of the road for Jackson, who had a very impressive Day One, where he went 3-1.
Cal Poly will look to get back on track for their next action, as they’ll travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the NWCA National Dual Meet Championships on Jan. 10 and 11.
