NIC WRESTLING: Injury-riddled Cardinals qualify only two to nationals
DES MOINES, Wash. — Ordinarily, you’d see the North Idaho College wrestling team qualifying all 10 wrestlers for the NJCAA tournament at the West District championships (formerly the Region 18 tournament) and having a legitimate shot at winning another national title.
This year, due to injuries, the Cardinals entered only six of a possible 10 wrestlers for Saturday’s West District championships at Highline Community College. Of those, sophomore heavyweight (285 pounds) Damian Trujillo and sophomore Dajour Reece (165) were the lone qualifiers for NIC to nationals.
Jaren Samuaung (149) was fourth, Garrett White (125 pounds) and Tim Parten (174) fifth and Isaac Aguilar (133) was sixth for NIC. Samuaung failed to receive a wild card to nationals.
“It wasn’t what we expected, but the guys we brought wrestled hard,” NIC assistant coach Keri Stanley said. “We just didn’t end up getting those wild cards.”
Trujillo won at 285 after Clackamas’ Brandon Johnson injury defaulted due to a knee issue, according to Stanley.
Reece, who finished as runner-up at nationals last year, injury defaulted in the finals to Lucius Van Rensburg of Southwestern Oregon to rest his surgically repaired meniscus injury.
“Dajour looked great in his match,” Stanley said. “He’d only been back on the mat for three days, but after he got through to the finals, there was no need to rush him back.”
Clackamas won the regional title with 149.5 points, followed by Southwestern Oregon with 109.5. NIC, which had won all but a handful of the Region 18 (West District) titles over the past four decades, finished sixth out of six teams on Saturday.
TEAM SCORES — 1, Clackamas 149.5. 2, Southwestern Oregon 109.5. 3, Highline 101.5. 4, Western Wyoming 85.5. 5, Northwest 83. 6, North Idaho 59.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
125 — Devaughn Sapien, Clackamas, d. Cole Verner, Western Wyoming, 5-2. 133 — Andrew Ramirez, Highline, d. Beau Shatto, Southwestern Oregon, 7-1. 141 — Braydon Akeo, Southwestern Oregon, d. Zach Bresser, Clackamas, 5-2. 149 — John-David Henderson, Northwest, d. Chris Garcia, Clackamas, 7-2. 157 — John Leal, Clackamas, d. Cameron Braden, Northwest, 5-2. 165 — Lucius Van Rensburg, Southwestern Oregon, d. Dajour Reece, North Idaho, by forfeit. 174 — Tommy Brewster, Clackamas, md. Tyler Noon, Highline, 15-4. 184 — Haszell West, Clackamas, d. Heber Shepard, Northwest, 5-2. 197 — John Morin, Clackamas, p. Elias Mason, Highline. 285 — Damian Trujillo, North Idaho, d. Brandon Johnson, Clackamas, by forfeit.
THIRD-FOURTH PLACE
125 — Francisco Barrera, Southwestern Oregon, d. Andres Tereza, Highline, 4-3. 133 — Michael Knoblauch, Clackamas, p. Eduardo Penha, Northwest. 141 — Jaydon Rogers, Western Wyoming, tf. Matt Schmidt, Northwest, 18-3. 149 — Randy Nimrick, Southwestern Oregon, d. Jaren Samuaung, North Idaho, 6-2. 157 — Josh Smith, Highline, p. Ullisses Lopez, Western Wyoming. 165 — Brendan Harkey, Clackamas, d. Justin Polkowske, Northwest, 8-3. 174 — Kaden Campbell, Western Wyoming, d. Tyler Webley, Southwestern Oregon, 4-0. 184 — Taylor Johnson, Highline, p. Chris Restad, Western Wyoming. 197 — Anthony Whitmarsh, Southwestern Oregon, d. Austin Waters, Western Wyoming, by forfeit. 285 — Jake Van Valkenburg, Western Wyoming, d. Timothy Smith, Southwestern Oregon, 5-2.