Six Wrestlers Place at Dan Harris Open

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Six Panthers placed including three that reached the championship match in the Dan Harris Open at Baker University Sunday.

"After looking over our whole group and their performances, we are happy to say things are looking good with our team," commented Wayne Petterson. "Dallas turned in a very good day winning a championship and earning a hard fought, come from behind win in the semi's against a good Benedictine guy."

Dallas Vesta was the Panthers top placer finishing first at 133 pounds. Vesta went 4-0 on the day including the come from behind 7-5 win over Benedictine's Michael Cutherbertson in the semifinals.

Alex Shea (141 pounds) and Ryne Cokeley (157 pounds) each went 3-1 on the day with their lone loss coming in the championship match. Shea reached the finals picking up a win by fall, decision, and major decision before losing in the championship by fall to Baker's Colby Watters. Cokeley pinned his first two opponents and won a decision to reach the finals before losing by fall to Baker's Nick Haugen.

Tyron Welch (165 pounds) had a busy day for the Panthers finishing the open with a 4-2 record. Each of his matches went the distance with none of the decisions coming by more than two points. He eventually fell in the third place match 4-2 to Jacob Andrews of Ouachita Baptist.

Sammy Reyes finished third at 184 pounds and went 4-1 on the day. He started the day 2-0 before falling in the semifinals but bounced back to win his next two matches to earn the third place finish.

Dillon Archer did not place after starting the day with a win by fall. In his second match Archer suffered an injury that he fought through but was not the same as he lost a major decision 13-3.

"Due to a couple minor injuries we had to pull out Dillon so as not to escalate his issue any further," said Petterson.

Malcolm Pink wrestled his way to a third place finish at 285 pounds. Pink went 4-1 on the day with a pair of wins by fall. He lost in the semifinals to Ouachita Baptist's Blake Andrews by fall but responded to pick up a pin in the consolation semifinals. He then beat Pratt's Joseph Garland 3-1 after falling to Garland 3-1 earlier in the week.

"We thought Malcolm had a very good day finishing third at heavyweight. He came out of his shell and showed what he is really capable of."

The Panthers combined for a 27-16 record on the day, results that have Petterson pleased with his team's progress to this point.

"We like what we are seeing. We have a good evaluation of what to work on now with our guys. This open is a good 'get your feet wet' tournament for us. Now we need to go to work on correcting some of our mistakes and bad habits so we can keep delivering good results against tougher opponents."

The Panthers will face one of those tough opponents in their next action. Thursday (Nov. 13) the Panthers will host rival Labette Community College at 7:30. The No. 18 ranked Cardinals knocked off No. 1 ranked North Idaho College already this season.

Full Article: http://goneosho.com/news/2014/11/10/WREST_1110143134.aspx?path=wrestling