“Two, Two, Two” chanted the Carver crowd at last Wednesday’s home wrestling meet against Cornell College. Even though it was senior night for the men, all eyes were on Freshman Daniel Skold.
Going into the final match up of the night, the Augustana wrestling team held a narrow one point lead, and this final match would decide the winner of the meet.
According to senior Josh Bush, this meet had been on the team’s mind since the beginning of the season.
“Winning our Dual at home was one of our earliest goals. We wanted to take everything slow with our young team and give them time to figure out college wrestling. Everything is starting to click and our guys see and know what they can do if they put their minds to it”.
The gears were definitely in motion as one Augie wrestler after another took to the mat and came out victorious. Beginning the event with sophomore Ellex Williams at 125 pounds, the Augie men would jump out to a quick 6-0 lead. Senior Freddy Terranova followed suit with an impressive win by technical fall 27-11. Junior Danny Terronez would battle it out for a 7-3 win before Bush took the mat and bested his opponent by pin.
The visiting Rams would make a comeback as Triston Richardson was defeated by a score of 13-4. Then Cannon Kelly fell 9-5. The Rams only trailed by one with the score at 20-19.
However that comback fell short as Skold bested his opponent in the final match up of the night winning. All in all, the Vikings put on quite the show, and the crowd certainly approved of the action.
“It was electric!” Bush said. “We love having a big crowd so we can get that hype factor up. That’s one way that Augie as a community can help all sports teams is by involvement and support.”
Even though the senior night dual meet was the Vikings first victory of the season, the team believes the momentum will help them in the upcoming NCAA Lower Midwest Regional held in Dubuque, Iowa this Saturday, February 29 and Sunday, March 1.
“This week we are really trying to get in the right mindset. A lot of people think wrestling is a strictly physical sport, but our mind plays a huge role in our performance,” Terranova commented.
The Vikings will be taking on two of the top three teams in division three in the Midwest Regional, Loras and Wartburg. Coe, North Central, Luther and Dubuque all of which are ranked in the top 25.
The top three wrestlers in each weight class will have the opportunity to compete in the NCAA national tournament that takes place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Overall, the Vikings are optimistic about this weekend, despite squaring off against tough competition. The men have faced off against many of these teams and hope to use their previous knowledge to their advantage.
Catch the Augie men in action this weekend as they look to make a successful post season run.
