Eagles Wrestling Finishes 4th at NWCA National Duals

Eagles Wrestling Finishes 4th at NWCA National Duals
Recap
January 8, 2022

David Finney

Louisville, KY - Coming off a perfect Thursday of wrestling and winning two duals in the tournament, Reinhardt had tons of momentum going into the Semifinals against #1 Nationally Ranked Grand View University of Des Moines, IA. A win against Grand View and the Eagles would find themselves in the championship match, however, it was not to be on this day.

Grand View showed why they are worthy of the #1 ranking by taking eight of the ten matches and winning by a score of 34 to 12. Out of the eight losses, four of them were decision matches with just a few points separating the two wrestlers, which shows that Reinhardt is right on the verge of being able to take out this powerhouse wrestling program from Iowa. Notable from the dual match was Ivan Arguello (133) who pinned his opponent. The other win was from Avry Mutschler (149).  The loss moved the Eagles into the consolation match for third & fourth places.

In the consolation match, Reinhardt would face Doane University from Crete, NE, who is ranked #4 Nationally and would be one of the toughest teams that the Eagles would face all season. This dual match would go about the way you would think a match between the #4 and #5 ranked teams would. The Eagles would take five of the ten matches with Ivan Arguello (133), Avry Mutschler (149), Matt Jenkins (165), Cole Tenety (174), and Kyle Homet (184) all picking up wins. Homet's win was a major decision 16-5. The Eagles just needed one more win to secure the third-place spot, but they could not make it happen and Doane would take a 17-16 victory. The match could not have been any closer and it came down to the final heavyweight match to see which team would win.

Coach Bedard and his staff have a very talented squad and there are several wrestlers that will be competing for top national spots as the AAC Tournament and NAIA Tournament come around. The Eagles will be back in action on Sunday, January 23rd when they host UNC Pembroke at The Brown Athletic Center.