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NWC Wrestlers Travel to Iowa On Thursday And Friday
Northwest College wrestling coach Jim Zeigler scheduled the Utah Valley University Open hoping his wrestlers could find some success near the end of their winter break.
Mission accomplished.
The Trappers picked up a slew of victories Saturday in Orem, Utah, gaining some momentum for an upcoming trip to Iowa today (Thursday) and Friday in the process.
“I chose this tournament because I wanted some kids to have some success,” Zeigler said. “They wrestled OK. It’s kind of hard to tell but they competed, and we got the first [tournament back from break] under our belt before we head to Iowa this week.”
NWC’s two best performances came from (redshirt) freshman Robert Gomez and freshman Jorge Rodriguez. Gomez took second place at 125 pounds, losing out to Western Wyoming College’s Ronald Wardleigh by pinfall in the title match. Morales, a 285-pounder, won three matches on his way to the championship bout, but lost an 11-2 major decision to UVU’s Dustin Dennison to settle for first place.
“I thought Robert and Jorge wrestled really well,” Zeigler said. “They had several good matches and I think they put forth good performances.”
Last year’s 197-pound national runner-up Jon Wixom placed third Saturday. He bowed out of the winners bracket in the quarterfinals round with a 6-2 loss to independent wrestler Darren Cooper, but worked his way through the consolation bracket to pin Cooper in the third-place match and finish his day 5-1 with five pins.
“Jon wrestled real well,” Zeigler added. “To come back for third and beat the kid that had beaten him earlier in the day, and actually pin him, that was nice to see.”
Zeigler was also happy with former Powell High School wrestler and current freshman Matt Widdicombe, who went 1-2 at 157 pounds, but has caught Ziegler’s eye with his skill set.
“I really like Widdicombe. I like how he wrestles. He makes a lot of mistakes, but he just wrestles and he wrestles hard,” Zeigler said. “He doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t hold back.
“He doesn’t get beat from sitting — he gets beat from wrestling,” the veteran coach said. “He wrestles and gets beat making mistakes, but you’ve got to wrestle through those mistakes. He’ll learn because he keeps wrestling.”
Freshman John-David Henderson (141) and sophomores Kaelen Loveless (165), Jacob Beck (174) and Gabe Escobedo (285) placed fourth for the Trappers. Three were close matches, as Henderson fell 8-6 to Western Wyoming’s Arthur Tomax while Beck dropped a 3-0 decision to WWC’s Colby Barlocker and Escobedo fell 5-2 to Colorado Mesa University’s Colter Bentley. Loveless was blanked in a 7-0 defeat to the University of Wyoming’s Chaz Polson.
Zeigler was especially pleased with Beck.
“Great day for Jacob Beck, really happy with what he did Saturday,” Zeigler said. “Some good wrestling from Jacob.”
Last season’s third-place national finisher Jeff McCormick was withheld from competition due to illness, but should be ready to go when the Trappers take on Iowa Western Community College today (Thursday) in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Iowa Central Community College Friday in Ft. Dodge, Iowa. Eduardo Penha will also return at 133 pounds after being cleared to wrestle following a knee injury in November.
“He’s ready to go,” Zeigler said. “He’s been cleared by doctors and he’s ready to go.”