Trio of wrestlers win as team loses to Wyoming

By HEATHER KENNEDY
UNCBears.com

GREELEY – In the final home meet of the 2013 season, the Northern Colorado Wrestling team dropped a 34-10 dual to Western Wrestling Conference foe, Wyoming.

Wyoming (8-4, 3-1 WWC) won the first four bouts to build a 21-0 advantage, but junior Cody McAninch (Broomfield, Colo.) at 197 pounds and sophomore heavyweight Henry Chirino (Brandon, Fla.) won back-to-back matches. Redshirt freshman Nick Adams (Monument, Colo.) also won at 141 pounds for the 10 Bears' (1-7, 0-2 WWC) points.

"We wrestled well tonight," Head Coach Ben Cherrington said. "We had a rough road trip last week. We had another starter go down in Charlie McMartin, so we've had a lot of guys have to step into the lineup unexpectedly and that maybe weren't prepared mentally and my hat's off to them. They've stepped into a tough situation and tonight they battled. Nick Alspaugh wrestled up and that's the best start he's had. All of our guys are really battling."

McAninch was aggressive early in the bout, getting a takedown and a two-point nearfall in the first period to take a 4-0 lead. He then got an escape and takedown in the second period before Michael Poulos got on the scoreboard with an escape with 18 seconds remaining in the final stanza. McAninch added a takedown with three ticks remaining and had 3:52 of riding time for the bonus point victory, 10-1.

Chirino and Leland Pfeifer went back-and-forth throughout the next bout on the mat. Chirino scored the early takedown, but Pfeifer escaped just 16 seconds later for the 2-1 score after the first period. In the second period, Chirino scored on two takedowns, while Pfeifer escaped three times for the 6-4 tally after two periods. With Chirino leading 7-4 and 42 seconds left, Pfeifer got the takedown to close within one, 7-6, but Chirino escaped five seconds later and neither athlete was able to manage any more scoring for the 8-6 final.

"Henry's very consistent," Cherrington said. "And he's consistent in everything he does, from what he does on the mat to what he does inside the wrestling room. Tonight he got a little bit tired during his match. Any time you can win those tough matches it says a lot about your heart and your want to win and obviously, Henry wants to win every time he steps on the mat."

After no scoring in the first period, Adams chose down to start the second and escaped just eight seconds in for the 1-0 lead. Komata started down in the third period and Adams was awarded a penalty point after Komata was called for stalling for the second time and was able to ride out the period for the 3-0 decision.

"Nick looked really good tonight," Cherrington said. "He started out the year on fire, then got hurt and struggled a little to come back from the injury, but the potential's there. He's got a win over a top-20 wrestler, so when he's prepared mentally and healthy, he can beat anyone out there."

The Bears travel to South Dakota State on Feb. 8 and take on North Dakota State on Feb. 10 to continue action in the Western Wrestling Conference.