It was an electrifying atmosphere tonight in the Regents Center Gym as Luther and the University of Dubuque faced each other for an American Rivers Conference dual. Nine of the 10 bouts were decided by decision, as the Norse defeated the Spartans 18-13.
Tensions were high from the get-go and increased following a come-from-behind victory by
Cristian Chavez (125) over Cade Hornback (8-7). Following the match, a heated exchange by the Spartans bench resulted in a deduction of a team point, giving the Norse an early four-point advantage.
Following an (8-5) victory by the Dubuque's Carson Sauriol at 133,
Ryan Cripe (141) and
Chase Kmosena (149) posted back-to-back wins by scores of (8-5) and (12-10) respectfully that gave the Norse a 9-2 advantage.
Dubuque answered with back-to-back wins of its own. Nationally ranked No. 12 Zarik Anderson (157) won (6-2) and Luke Radeke (165) scored three points in the final 5 seconds of his match to win (8-7), that pulled the Spartans to within one (9-8).
It was as close as the Spartans would get to the Norse the rest of the way as
Luis Cruces (174),
Isaiah Mitchell (184) and nationally ranked No. 7
Donovan Corn (197) all won by decision, securing the victory for the Norse.
The victory gave the Norse an A-R-C record of 3-3, 8-4 overall. Dubuque fell to 1-3 in conference action, 3-6 overall.
The win also marked Head Coach
Dave Mitchell's 300th career victory. Alongside of him for the past 26 years, has been his friend and former teammate from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Jeff O'Gara. The duo took over the wrestling program in 1996-97 and have since posted a dual meet record of 300-154-6.
Complete Results (PDF)
Luther returns to action one week from tonight when it will travel to No. 14 Central College for a match that will begin at 6:00 p.m.
