ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's wrestling team took first place at their home event on Sunday, finishing with a 3-0 record at the Fred Johnson Duals.
Augie started the day strong earning a 50-5 victory over the Morton Panthers, where they succeeded in every matchup except one. The Vikings won the first four battles, starting with Khadyn Jacobs conducting a fall over his opponent in the 125 weight division and Trevor Boryla following with a victory in the 133 class by fall. Colin Roque grabbed the 141 class with a 17-2 technical fall over his opponent and Michael Macias won via fall in the 149 category. The Panthers put a halt to the Vikings' winning streak in the 157-weight class, but Augie quickly followed with five straight wins to conclude the contest. Jack Patting turned the outcome back to Augustana's advantage with a fall in the 165 class. Colby Lape followed with a major decision in 174 and Braiden Young generated a win by fall in the 184 division. The first dual concluded with Clay DeBaillie as he executed a fall in the 197 weight class, followed by a 15-0 tech fall from Teke Nieto at 285.
The second faceoff of the day was against the Division ll Quincy Hawks, where Augie came out on top with a final score of 33-17. Both teams went back-and-forth until the last three attempts. The Hawks started with a win in the first weight class of the dual and Boryla won due to forfeit in the 133 division. Quincy grabbed the 141 category and Macias conquered the 149 class by an 11-4 decision. The Hawks earned success in the 157 division and Patting followed with a fall in the 165 weight class. The last category Quincy saw a win at was in 174 before Augie followed with three straight victories, starting with DeBaillie by fall in 184. In the last two matches, Augie secured success by falls with Young in 197 and Josh Woodrey in 285.
With the two victories, Augie moved to the championship round, where they battled the Triton Trojans, who are ranked No. 6 at the junior college level. Both teams went back-and-forth the entirety of the dual, starting with Trojan success in 125 prior to Boryla grabbing four points with a major decision. Triton grabbed the next two attempts in the 141 and 149 division and Augie returned the favor with victories in 157 by Kameron Hanel and in 165 from Patting. The Trojans conquered the 174 class and DeBaillie followed with a fall in the 184-weight division. Going into the last matchup of the championship, Augie was down by one point with a score of 20-19. Woodrey earned the championship win for the Vikings with a fall over Triton to wrap up the dual with a final score of 25-20. Both of the wins from Boryla and Patting were over wrestlers ranked in the top 10 nationally at the junior college level.
With the three wins, Augie improves their overall record to 10-5 and will be back in action on Saturday, January 13 as they host the Aurora Spartans.
