A Fitting Tribute To Finn Grinaker
Concordia hosted wrestlers from 13 different schools at the first-ever Finn Grinaker Open on Saturday. The meet is named after the former CC Hall of Fame coach and longtime Cobber staff member.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/19/11)—Concordia hosted wrestlers from 13 different schools at the first-ever Finn Grinaker Open on Saturday. The Cobbers entertained athletes from NCAA Division I and II schools as well as top NAIA colleges around the area.
The meet was broken into two groups. The Gold Division was made up of wrestlers who had at least a year of collegiate experience while the Maroon Division was for first-year collegiate wrestlers.
Despite the quality of competition, Concordia once again came away with some stellar individual results. The Cobbers had three athletes post top 5 finishes in the Gold Division while four first-year athletes had top 5 results in the Maroon Division.
Ben Presler and Nathan Schmitz led the Cobbers for the second straight week. The pair of NCAA national Meet qualifiers last year had a combined record of 7-2 on the day and both came away with their second straight top 5 finish. Presler went 3-1 at 125 and captured third place. His wins came against a pair of wrestlers from the University of Minnesota and one from Dakota Wesleyan. For the second straight week, Schmitz lost his opening match of the meet but then ran out the string to post a top 5 finish. He started the day by losing a tough 3-2 bout to Mic Berg of St. Cloud State but then beat athletes from Minot State and Southwest Minnesota State and then a pair of wrestlers from the University of Northern Iowa.
Cody Kasprick was the third CC returner to finish in the top 5. He went 2-1 at 285 and claimed second place. He beat Derek Carlson from Ridgewater CC in the opening round and then recorded a 3-2 decision over Jose Lopez of Dickinson State before falling to Evan Knutson of North Dakota State in the championship match.
Levi Specht and Sebastian Gardner had second-place finishes in the Maroon Division. For Gardner it was his second straight top 5 finish in the first two weeks of his collegiate career. He went 2-1 at 174 and is now 6-2 on the year. Specht was 3-1 at 133 and beat a pair of wrestlers from Dickinson State and one from MSU Moorhead.
Jake Kostik and Taylor Brown finished off the top 5 place-winners for CC. Both first-year wrestlers recorded fifth-place finishes in the Maroon Division. Kostik was 2-1 at 133 while Brown went 3-1 at 285.
Concordia will now have a break for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action at the MSU Moorhead Dragon Open on Saturday, Dec. 2 beginning at 9 a.m.