Cobbers Fall At No.1-Ranked Augsburg

Concordia traveled to Minneapolis for a midweek with dual with No.1-ranked Augsburg and battled hard but fell 40-3 to the veteran-laden Auggies. Seven of Augsburg's 10 starting wrestlers on Wednesday were ranked in the Top 10 of Division III and seven were returning starters from last year's squad that finished second at the NCAA National Meet.    

The Cobbers showed many positives throughout the contest with the biggest highlight coming in the 197-lb bout where freshman Jacob Arends earned a 6-3 decision victory over Augsburg's Wyatt Richardson to keep the Auggies from earning the shutout.

Arends earned the victory with a stellar third period. The bout was tied 1-1 after the first two frames and then Arends earned a key reversal at the start to take a 3-1 lead. His opponent then came up with an escape before Arends posted the eventual match-winning takedown with 1:17 left. Arends gave up a late escape but tacked on the riding time point to come away with the 6-3 win.    

Concordia had a decidedly younger squad and some of the newcomers posted shining moments of their own. Freshman Kaden Spindler had an early lead over No.5-ranked Tanner Vassar after Spindler earned a nifty "shuck-by" takedown.

Senior Nick Gravdahl also had a first-period lead in his match with 3time Minnesota All-State honoree  Solomon Nielsen.

Concordia will look to regroup from the dual-meet loss as they prepare for the stretch run of their season. Their first chance to get back in the right direction will be on Saturday, Jan. 19 at Minnesota West College's Worthington Open as many of the Cobbers will hit the mats against opponents from all three NCAA divisions as well as athletes from the NJCAA.

Individual Match Results:
125 - #4 Victor Gliva (AU) tech. fall Jake Nohre (CC); 16-1 (7:00) (Augsburg leads 5-0)
133 - #4 Sam Bennyhoff (AU) maj. dec. Benjamin Bogart (CC); 15-5 (Augsburg leads 9-0)
141 - #3 David Flynn (AU) pin Bret Wilson (CC); 6:28 (Augsburg leads 15-0) 
149 - #7 Alex Wilson (AU) maj. dec. Ty Jonson (CC); 10-0 (Augsburg leads 19-0)
157 - #2 Ryan Epps (AU) maj. dec. Adam Jaeger (CC); 15-2 (Augsburg leads 23-0)
165 - #1 Lucas Jeske (AU) maj. dec. Travis Ostby (CC); 11-2 (Augsburg leads 27-0)
174 - #5 Tanner Vassar (AU) pin Kaden Spindler (CC); 5:31 (Augsburg leads 33-0)
184 - Solomon Nielsen (AU) maj. dec. Nick Gravdahl (CC); 18-8 (Augsburg leads 37-0)
197 - Jacob Arends (CC) dec. Wyatt Richardson (AU); 6-3 (Augsburg leads 37-3)
285 - Ethan Hofacker (AU) dec. Noah Carter (CC) (Augsburg wins 40-3)