Full Results
MEQUON, Wis. – With a massive snowstorm bearing down on the Midwest this weekend, the Harper College wrestling team was forced to change its plans. The Hawks were originally slated to wrestle at the Coe College Invite in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but that meet was cancelled due to the storm.
Instead, the Hawks migrated north to Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon, Wisconsin for the 23rd Annual Concordia University Open on Saturday, a meet laden with some of the top talent in the country at the NCAA Div. III level.
Harper's two most notable performances came from sophomores Zach McCullough (/Elgin) and Cory Pych (/South Elgin). McCullough placed sixth at 125 pounds, and Pych posted a 3-2 mark at 149 pounds.
McCullough started his day with a 7-2 victory over Anthony Munoz of Elmhurst College. In his next match, he defeated Concordia's Kameron Bourgeois convincingly, 11-2, to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarters, the sophomore topped Dubuque's AJ Pascente 7-2 to reach the semifinal showdown with Joseph Her of UW-Parkside.
Her defeated McCullough, 8-3, sending him to a match with Airk Furseth of UW–Parkside. In a tightly contested match, Furseth prevailed 7-4. McCullough wrestled Clay Lieber of UW–Stevens Point in the fourth place match, a match that Lieber won narrowly, 12-10.
Pych had quite a day at his weight class of 149 pounds that featured 34 wrestlers. His first match was a grueling battle against Wisconsin–Whitewater's Isaiah Vela. After nearly seven minutes of wrestling, Vela finally pinned Pych at the 6:36 mark. Pych moved into the consolation bracket, where he won his first match with a pin of Wabash's Derek Scott in less than two minutes.
This set up a match again teammate Howard Olson (/DeKalb). He pinned Olson in 5:19 and followed it up with a 3-2 victory over Joey Seitz of UW–Stevens Point. His day ended with a 4-2 loss to North Central's Ben Williamson.
The current Harper wrestling team also got to witness some excellent performances from some former Harper wrestlers Blake Santi and Josh Tardy. Former Hawks wrestlers Jonathan Denikas (/Antioch) and Mike Romanelli also competed at the meet.
Santi, who wrestled for the Hawks during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons and is now at Elmhurst College, defeated several top-notch wrestlers and won the 149-pound division. Santi, who was an All-American for Harper in 2014, finished with an unblemished 5-0 record, including a thrilling 8-7 championship win over UW–Parkside's Frank Yatonni.
Tardy, who wrestled for Harper during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons and is now a senior at North Central College, captured the individual championship at 157 pounds. Tardy, who was a national championship for the Hawks in 2013 at 149 pounds, won all five of his matches on Saturday. The senior won a narrow 3-2 decision over Wabash's Nick Bova in the title match.
Denikas, who currently wrestles for the University of Dubuque, went 2-2 at 165 pounds. Romanelli, who wrestled unattached for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, split his four matches at 197 pounds.
The Hawks will compete next at the Parkside Open in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday, Dec. 5.
