Nov. 9, 2009

Peacock Results at Kaye Young Open

The Upper Iowa wrestling team traveled to Mason City on Saturday to open their season at the Kaye Young Open hosted by North Iowa Area Community College. The Peacocks finished the day with two champions, three third place finishes, and one fourth place finish; no places beyond fourth were awarded.

Kyle Pedretti (133) and Nick Shandri (197) were the Peacocks' two champions on the day. Pedretti won his title in dominant fashion going 4-0 with a pair of decisions, a technical fall and pin. Pedretti opened his day with an 18-1 tech fall victory and then moved to the semifinals with a pin (3:45). In the semis, the redshirt sophomore earned an 8-2 decision over Ben Cash of Iowa State to advance to the finals. Pedretti defeated Ty Costa, an NAIA National Qualifier, by decision 12-7 to earn the open title.

Shandri won three matches to earn his title at the open. The UIU newcomer earned a fall (3:13) in his first match before posting a pair of one-point decisions to win the title at 197.

Three Peacocks earned third place finishes; Wade Gobin (174), Mitch Schultz (184), and Quinn Meirick (197). Gobin used a 3-1 record to earn his place. The young man collected a win by fall (6:50) in one of his matches and was winning the third place match when his opponent could not continue giving Gobin the victory.

Schultz earned a 4-1 record to get to third at 184 pounds. He opened his day with a win by fall (3:00) before defeating two Iowa State wrestlers by decision. He received a win in the third place match when fellow Peacock 84-pounder, Carl Broghammer, could not continue.

Meirick posted the most wins on the day by a Peacock; although he wrestled unattached at the open. He earned his third place finish thanks to a 5-1 record. The five wins included two wins by decision and three wins by fall in the consolation bracket. The pins came at 1:10, 3:39, and 1:01. Meirick won the third place match handily, 12-5.

The final Peacock to place was newcomer Carl Broghammer. The freshman wrestled unattached for the day while earning his 4-1 record. The four wins included a 6-0 decision, a fall (3:31), and a major decision 11-2.

Other Peacocks that found success on the mats at the open included Derek Stolarzyk (157 /2-1), Arron Cramer (285 / 3-2), J.R. Baker (141 / 2-2), and Winston Robbins (157 / 2-2). Upper Iowa also had some additional unattached wrestlers compete well including Colby Kriegel (149 / 2-2), Darren Manning (174 / 2-2), Jordan Franzen (174 / 1-0), Luke Stika (285 / 2-2), and Alex Schmidt (285 / 2-2).

The wrestling team will compete at the Pointer Open in Stevens Point, Wisconsin hosted by UW-Stevens Point this coming Saturday, Nov. 14. The Pointer Open is a great early season open tournament because it features two brackets per weight class. The gold brackets feature wrestlers in their sophomore, junior and senior years of wrestling, while the silver brackets are home for all freshman in attendance.