Big Men Spark Perfect Record At Gator Duals

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (12/21/13)—The Cobber big men helped No.9-ranked Concordia go undefeated at the Gator Duals including a dramatic one-point upset win over No.3-ranked Messiah in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday.  Cody Kasprick and Delson Saintal both went 4-0 on the day to help CC push their overall dual record to 6-1 on the year.

Kasprick and Saintal were the finishers in Concordia's thrilling win over messiah in the final match of the day. Trailing 19-12 heading into the final two bouts against the Falcons, Saintal started the improbable comeback with an 11-5 win at 197 over Jason Wright. Kasprick then finished off the team win by scoring a technical fall in his match at 285. Kasprick dominated the final bout of the day and closed out the win at the 5:56 mark.

Kasprick and Saintal also posted individual wins over wrestlers from Elmhurst and the University of Chicago to start the busy day of wrestling. The four wins for the dual-meet tournament push both wrestlers over the 10-win mark for the season. Kasprick is now 12-6 on the year while Saintal is 11-7.

Concordia's 20-19 win over Messiah was the closest of the day in the prestigious DIII dual-meet tourney. The Cobbers started the day by beating Elmhurst 27-6. CC then blanked the U of Chicago 40-0 before chopping down Loras 27-9. Concordia has not lost against a DIII opponent this season with their only loss coming against St. Cloud State who is ranked fifth in NCAA Division II.

The Cobbers had six wrestlers post three wins on the day. The only other unbeaten athlete for Concordia was Jacoby Bergeron at 133. He went 3-0 and came away with a huge 7-4 decision against Messiah. Bergeron is now 14-5 on the year.

Gabe Foltz, Jake Long, Kyle LeDuc, Jake Krogstad and Sebastian Gardner all came away with a trio of victories in the meet. Long and LeDuc were the other CC athletes to score wins over the nationally ranked Falcons. Long won his bout at 149 by scoring the only pin fall of the team dual. He pinned his opponent at 5:52 to score critical bonus points. LeDuc followed with an 11-5 decision at 157. LeDuc now owns a team-best 15-5 overall record on the season and is currently ranked seventh in the nation. Long, who is ranked second in DIII at 149 is now 13-7.

Concordia will start the New Year when they square off against Augustana in a dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 2 p.m.                     

Concordia-Moorhead 20, Messiah 19

125 - Lucas Malmberg (Messiah) won in sudden victory 1 over Gabe Foltz (Concordia) 8-1.           
133 - Jacoby Bergeron (Concordia) won by decision over Kyle Coblentz (Messiah) 7-4.   
141 - Kaleb Loht (Messiah) won by decision over Yonas Gebreab (Concordia) 7-3.            
149 - Jacob Long (Concordia) won by pin over Greg Kabakjian (Messiah) 5:52.    
157 - Kyle LeDuc (Concordia) won by decision over Larry Cannon (Messiah) 11-5.              
165 - Stephen Cannon (Messiah) won by major decision over Jake Krogstad (Concordia) 18-7.
174 - Ricardo Plummer (Messiah) won by decision over Sebastian Gardner (Concordia) 3-2.        
184 - Josh Thomson (Messiah) won by medical forfeit over Christian Harrison (Concordia) .         
197 - Delson Saintal (Concordia) won by decision over Jason Wright (Messiah) 11-5.
285 - Cody Kasprick (Concordia) won by tech fall over Luke Weaver (Messiah) 5:56 15-0.