Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (Jan. 15, 2022) - The Loras College wrestling team made their way to Mount Vernon, Iowa on Saturday morning to compete in the Cliff Keen/Mike Duroe Invitational, hosted by Cornell College. An impressive 17 Duhawks received top-eight finishes, led by Brady Vogel and Daniel Meeker who battled their way to the championship matches of their respective classes, seeing both bring home second-place finishes.

At 125 lbs, Justin Murray opened up his weekend with a first round bye before falling in the second round the Augsburg University's Derek Steele by a narrow 4-2 decision to head into the consolation bracket. In consolation, Murray downed Cornell's Nathan Bednarczyk with a 1:57 pin victory before beating teammate Jayson Weidman in the next match by a 7-0 decision. Falling in the next round to Augsburg's Wyat Kaczrowski, Murray headed to the fifth-place match where he finished fifth with a second period pin victory over Luther College's Miguel Garcia. 

Weidman fell into the consolation bracket after being edged by Kaczrowski in the first round before receiving a first round bye in consolation that saw him advance to square off against teammate Christian Kemp. Weidman beat Kemp by a 7-0 decision but fell to Murray in the next match to go into the seventh-place match against teammate Dylan Lauriano where he would finish eighth. 

Kolby Heinz received a first round bye before falling into consolation after a first-round loss to Kaczrowski. Heinz made his way through consolation with an 11-6 decision over Iowa Wesleyan University's Kyle Thibodeaux to move on and face Lauriano. Heinz pinned Lauriano in 5:26 to moe on and face Garcia where, where he earned a spot in the third-place match after pinning Garcia in 6:34. Heinz finished fourth at 125 lbs. after being edged by Kaczrowskin in a rematch by a 10-6 decision.

Lauriano went into consolation after receiving a first round bye and falling in the second round to Christian Chavez from Luther. In consolation, Lauriano made his way through Noel Rosales, Jr. by a 7-1 decision before moving into the seventh-place match after falling to Heinz. Lauriano earned a seventh-place finish at 125 lbs. after defeating Weidman by an 8-2 decision.

At 141 lbs., Jack Yee fell in the first round to Cornell's Keegan Schultschick to move into consolation where he received a first round bye before moving on and beating Luther's Khalil Salvidar. Yee ducked out of the tournament in the next match after falling 7-0 to Cornell's Kyler Henderson. 

Mason McMillen received a first round bye before moving on to advance in the championship bracket after defeating Cornell's Collin Brown 6-0. In the next match, McMillen made quick work of University of Dubuque's Bryce Radeke, staying alive with a 48-second pin. The next match saw McMillen go up against Brady Gross from Augsburg but he would fall into consolation with a loss. In consolation, McMillen fell to Schultschick to move into the fifth-place match where he went toe-to-toe with teammate Reis Ginter. A medical forfeit by Ginter saw McMillen finish fifth on the weekend. 

Ginter's weekend started with a first round bye before taking down Salvidar in the first period with a pin in 1:54 before falling into regulation at the hands of Gross. In consolation, Ginter pinned Cornell's Collin Brown in 2:23 to stay alive and move on to face Henderson where he won by another pin, this time in 1:18. After falling to Luther's Ryan Cripe in the following match, Ginter went to the fifth-place match with teammate McMillen where he would be forced to forfeit and receive a sixth-place finish. 

At 149 lbs., Stevie Lee opened up his tournament with a quick 1:38 pin over Iowa State Wrestling Club's Wlater Franck before falling in his next two matches to bow out of the tournament. Frank Indelli also wrestled at 149 lbs. and downed Dubuque's Luke Radeke in the first round to move on and face Luther's Chase Kmosena. Indelli advanced deeper into the tournament with a 4-2 decision win over Kmosena before heading into consolation with a loss to Augsburg's Tanner Kroells. In consolation, Indelli defeated teammate Traevin Osborn with a 4-2 sudden victory decision to advance into the third place match where he finished fourth after falling to Augsburg's Charlie Stuhl. 

In his first match of the tournament, Daniel Meeker dropped Luther's Tristan Day in the second period with a 3:26 fall before taking down Dubuque's Gabe Sweat in the next round with a quick 1:11 pin. After taking down Stuhl in the next match by a 6-2 decision, Meeker advanced into the championship match where he met up with Kroells and finished second after falling by a 10-5 decision. 

Osborn defeated Dubuque's David Villa in the first round with a 10-3 decision victory before falling to Stuhl in the next round to head to consolation. In consolation, Osborn beat Cornell's Reilly Dolan with a 5:23 pin before beating Radeke in the next match 4-3. Osborn fell to teammate Indelli to move on to compete in the fifth place match where he finished fifth with a third period pin over Cornell's Klayton Keller. 

At 157 lbs., Ben Faber won by an 11-7 decision in the first round over Iowa State Wrestling Club's Lucas Bratland before falling in the next round to Killian Perrigon from Cornell. In consolation, Faber beat Curtis Green Saunders by a 9-4 decision to stay alive and face Cornell's Gabe Carter. Faber fell to Carter and moved on to face Brent Ward from Iowa Wesleyan in the seventh-place match but would fall to Iowa Wesleyan's Brent Ward to earn an eight-place finish. 

Scott Burke's weekend opened with a first round loss to Cory Stewart to move into consolation where he advanced after a first round victory over teammate Luke Battaglia, winning with a 2:51 pin. Burke went on to see Augsburg's Jacob Heiden, who he defeated with a 5:31 fall before facing Ward in the next round, earning another win by fall, this time in a quick 1:30. He advanced into the third place match after a rematch with Stewart saw Burke win by forfeit and earn a fourth place finish after alling to Brenden Hendel from Luther by a 9-5 decision. 

Caiden Jones also competed at 157 lbs. for the Duhawks and fell into consolation after a first round loss to Luther's Braeden Hendel. In consolation, Jones racked up a solid 18-2 technical fall victory over Cornell's Daniel Joe Shaw before ducking out of the tournament against Cornell's Gabe Carter. 

At 165 lbs., Drew Venteicher received a first round bye and fell in the second round to University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's Seth Brossard to head to the consolation bracket. In consolation, Venteicher first met up with Lakeland's David Aragon and advanced on a dominant 18-0 technical fall. He then stayed alive in the next round with a 14-9 win over Cornell's Spencer Roth before falling to La Crosse's Noah Leisgang to head to the fifth-place matchh. Venteicher finished sixth after falling narrowly to Luther's Preston Schuelke by a 7-6 decision. 

At 174 lbs., Isaac Romero fell in the second round to Cornell's Dahson Dejong after receiving a first round bye to move into consolation. In the consolation bracket, Romero received a bye and wento on to face Luis Cruces from Luther, who he downed 12-2 before falling in the next round to Skyler Shuman. 

Abe Michel opened his weekend at 197 lbs. for the Duhawks against Elias Cordero from Iowa Wesleyan, pinning him in 1:57 before falling in the next round and ducking out in consolation. Derek Venteicher won his first round match by a 17-5 major decision over La Crosse's Logan Stafford to move on and face Tyler Thurston from Dubuque, winning via a 3-0 decision. In the next match, Venteicher fell to Augsburg's Bentley Schwanbeck-Ost to move into consolation hwere he met up with teammate Tad Griffith, advancign into the third-place match after Griffith medically forfeited. Venteicher earned a third-place finish with a 2:36 win over Augsburg's Parker Venz. 

Jake Lamonto lost his opening round match to Venz to move into consolation hwere he beat Dubuque's Aiden Nardin by a 14-1 major decision before falling to Thurston in the next match to end his weekend of competition. Griffith downed Nardin in his first match of the weekend with a quick 1:09 pin before falling in the next match to Venz to head to consolation. In consolation, Griffith advanced on a medical forfeit to square off against teammate Richard Hunter, who he beat with a third period fall but Griffith was forced to medically forfeit to end his weekend with a sixth-place finish. 

Hunter downed Cornell's Treyton Steffen in the first round of the tournament with a 13-10 decision before falling in the next match to head to consolation where he downed Cordero by a huge 16-0 technical fall before falling to griffith and earning a seventh-place finish with a medical forfeit win over Thurston. 

At 285 lbs., Brady Vogel had a first round bye before going against Augsburg's Jagger Schack and winning by a 4-3 decision to advance and face Walter West from Luther. A 3-2 decision win saw Vogel continue and reach the championship match with a 1:02 pin over La Crosse's Ben Kawcyzinski, who is currently ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division III in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) rankings. Vogel earned a second-place finish after falling in the championship to Tyler Kim by a narrow 3-1 deficit. 

Dakoda Powell also competed at 285 lbs. and received a first round bye before taking on Iowa State Wrestling Club's Cornelius Simmons in the second round. Powell dropped Simmons by a 16-1 technical fall before falling to Kim to move to consolation where he won his first match against Iowa Wesleyan's Brendan Lunsford by a 6-4 decision to advance and face Robert Melise from Dubuque. Melise medically forfeited to see Powell stay alive but he would be edged by Kawczynski in the next match to move to the fifth-place match where he well 2-0 to Luther's Cullen quick to earn a sixth-place finish. 

The Duhawks are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 22 as they compete in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Duals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Competition is set to kick off at 9:00 AM.