Consolation championships headline Doane Open outing

CRETE, NEB. – The trio of juniors John Diener (Kaukauna, Wis.) and Noah Styskal (David City, Neb.) and sophomore Kasten Grape (Columbus, Neb.) picked top finishing marks for Morningside University Saturday, Dec. 4.

Competing in Doane University's Connor/Oppenheim Open, Diener, at 149 pounds, and Styskal, at 141 pounds, battled to third place on the Open side, respectively. Grape had the same placing in the Amateur section. 

Styksal rebounded from a narrow loss in the championship semifinals to Grand View College's Troy Mendoza to notch his consolation title with a forfeit victory on the backside finale. Diener had the most challenging path of the three. He lost his first-round match on the championship side but answered that with four victories, three of which occurred by either major decision or fall, to win the back side. Grape was also impressive, rolling to five straight triumphs by fall or technical fall to wind up third. He put an exclamation point on the consolation championship with a 19-second pin in the third-place match.

Head coach Jake Stevenson's squad also added top six marks from junior 133-pounder Taylor Vazquez (Fountain, Colo.) and freshman 133-pounder Logan Stumpf (Kaukauna, Wis.). Vasquez took fifth in the Open division, and Stumpf wound up sixth in the Amateur section.

Mside concludes its pre-Christmas calendar Saturday, Dec. 11. They join the field for the Buena Vista University Open.