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The Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) Golden Norse Wrestlers have claimed yet another West-Central District Title and qualified all ten wrestlers for the national tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa on March 1 and 2. The District Title marks the sixth consecutive title for the team looking to defend their national title.
(Front Row left to right is: Kendon Lee, Zach Porter, Corbin Nirschl, Boo Dryden, and Mason Naifeh. Back Row left to right is: Tony Andrade, Zeke Silva, Alex Kauffman, Kalin Winkler, and Kyle Caldwell)
“The goal at the Regional Tournament is to get all 10 wrestlers qualified for the National Tournament and we did just that,” said Head Coach Joe Renfro. “Of course would have liked to have had all 10 of them crowned champs and I believe that was possible, but we are moving forward and focusing on the National Tournament.
At the tournament, three NEO wrestlers were named champion, five were runners-up, and two claimed third place. Qualifiers were Mason Naifeh, Boo Dryden, Corbin Nirschl, Kendon Lee, Zach Porter, Kyle Caldwell, Kalin Winkler, Alex Kauffman, Zeke Silva, and Tony Andrade. The NEO team claimed victory over Northwest Kansas Tech by 9.5 points and outpaced third place Cloud County Community College by 61 points.
“We’ve still got some daylight left and we’re already working on how to accomplish our ultimate goal,” added Renfro. “We’ve got to stay focused and we have been getting better at that all year. Northwest Tech had a tough team and they pushed us, but we’ll be pushed even more at Nationals.”
Results by weight class:
125# – Mason Naifeh – 2nd
133# – Boo Dryden – 2nd
141# – Corbin Nirschl – 2nd
149# – Kendon Lee – 2nd
157# – Zach Porter – 1st
165# – Kyle Caldwell – 3rd
174# – Kalin Winkler – 3rd
184# – Alex Kauffman – 2nd
197# – Zeke Silva – 1st
285# – Antonio Andrade – 1st
