FloWrestling Comprehensive Results
Full Results
Daily Herald ArticleCOUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The Harper College wrestling team competed at the 2016 NJCAA Wrestling Championships at the Mid-America Center on Friday and Saturday. The Hawks had one All-American,
Cory Pych (/South Elgin), placed fourth among non-scholarship schools, and took second among NJCAA Central District colleges at nationals.
Harper College scored 25.5 points total and placed 22nd overall. Nassau Community College finished as the top non-scholarship school at the meet by scoring 60.5 points and taking eighth place overall. Muskegon Community College (T-11th place, 46.5 points) was the top team from the Central District, followed by Harper (22nd place, 25.5 points), Lincoln College (29th place, 11.5 points), and Triton College (33rd place, 3 points).
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M had seven wrestlers place in the top five and won its second title in three years by racking up 152.5 points. Tournament host Iowa Central College finished runner-up with 128 points, followed by third place Ellsworth Community College with 98 points.
Cory Pych (/South Elgin)-All-American, Sixth Place at 149 Pounds
Pych entered nationals as the third overall seed at 149 and received a bye in the first round. In the round of 16, he defeated Iowa Western Community College's Oscar Ramirez, 4-2, to reach a quarterfinals bout with Jamestown Community College's Nate Skonieczny. Pych pinned his opponent at the 2:34 mark to advance to the national semifinals.
The sophomore squared off with Clackamas CC's Chris Garcia but lost 11-0. The loss sent him into the consolation semifinals, where he wrestled against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M's Kristian Holquin-Mendez. Pych was pinned just under three minutes into the match, sending him to the fifth place match. He battled against No. 5 seed Toby Hague of Home Rowan College at Gloucester County but was pinned in the early stages of the match.
Despite the closing loss, Pych still claimed an All-American spot with a sixth place finish.
Jon Makey (Grayslake, Ill. /Grayslake Central )
Makey recorded three wins in the two-day competition at 165 pounds, the most of any Harper Hawks wrestler. In his first match of the weekend, he pinned Southwest Oregon CC's Lucius Van Rensburg. His second match was a close bout with Ridgewater CC's Zach Revier, a match Revier won 6-4.
Makey bounced back in the consolation round of 16 by pinning Labette CC's Chazden Blankenship. In his next match, he shut out Neosho County CC's Colton Looper, 6-0. Finally, Makey was edged, 6-5, by Mercyhurst's Sam Colebert, who took fourth place at 165.
Ian Mullen (McHenry, Ill. /McHenry West)
Mullen won his opening round match Friday morning, 6-4, over Sullivan County's Dylan Booth. The win set up a bout with top-seeded Alex Delacruz of Iowa Central. Delacruz topped Mullen 19-4, sending him to the consolation bracket. Delacruz went on to win a national title at 125 pounds.
Mullen made quick work of Neosho County's Jay Maxville with a pin just 1:12 into their match. In his final match of the weekend, he wrestled another strong opponent in Northeastern Oklahoma A&M's Logan Terrill. Terrill won in a low-scoring bout, 4-0, and ended up taking seventh overall to earn All-American honors.
Other Notables
While Jimmy Knapp (Bourbonnais, Ill. /Bradley-Bourbonnais) finished with a 1-2 record at 141 pounds, the record doesn't always tell the story. After receiving an opening round bye, Knapp wrestled Iowa Central's Jason Alfau. The two had an incredible bout that was decided in the final minute of the match as Alfau won by pinfall at the 6:08 mark. Alfau posted a perfect 4-0 record on the weekend and won the individual national title at 141.
Knapp won his second match of the week by fall in 4:11 over Mercyhurst's Mason Bryne. Finally, the freshman took on Northeastern Oklahoma A&M's Mitchell Sellers. Sellers won the match by pin in 1:57 and went on to claim All-American honors with a fifth place showing.
Sophomore Zach McCullough (Elgin, Ill. /Elgin) got a first round bye, setting up a showdown with Ellsworth CC's Tepra Wright. Wright prevailed by fall in 4:02 to advance to the round of 8 and send McCullough to the consolation bracket. McCullough got back on track with a convincing 18-7 major decision over Pratt CC's Dy'juan Carney. McCullough's Harper career ended with a 10-2 loss to Nassau's Christopher Meloni.
Fellow sophomore Kameran Hardwick (Roselle, Ill. /Lake Park) won 7-4 over Barton CC's Justin Scarbro in his first bout. He faced a tough opponent in Dalonte Holland (Ellsworth CC) in the round of 16. Holland was victorious, 5-0, and eventually finished third in the nation. Hardwick's final match of his Hawks career was a lengthy bout with Colby's Devante Ragland. Ragland won by fall at the 6:09 mark.
National qualifiers Tamchybai Turusbekov (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan/Northeast) and Cody Barnes (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock ) did not collect any wins at nationals but wrestled quality opponents. Turusbekov took on Muskegon's Devan Richter, who finished as an All-American with a third place finish at 174. Barnes, who wrestled at 197, took on Kendrick Jones of Iowa Central in his first match, and Jones went on to be an All-American.
