Bears Finish Seventh at Cougar Clash

Sunday, December 7

Edwardsville, Ill.

8 a.m. MST

University of Northern Colorado

SIUE

12/7/2025 6:04:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Elian Soto, Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Northern Colorado Wrestling closed out a hard-fought tournament weekend highlighted by several individual victories, tight battles against ranked opponents, and multiple Bears advancing through the tournament and consolation brackets.

125 Pounds
Aydan Thomas delivered a solid showing, finishing 1–2 on the weekend. After a tough 2–0 loss in the opening round to Northern Iowa's Trever Anderson, Thomas rebounded with a gritty 4–2 decision win over Illinois' Caelan Riley. Thomas fell short in the third-place match, falling to Gary Steen from Oklahoma State by 4-2 decision and placing fourth on the day.

Bryson Valdez went 0–2, dropping an 8–4 decision to Little Rock's Tyler Harper before being falling to Northern Iowa's Brandon Paez, 4–1.

141 Pounds
Ramon Salazar opened strong with a dominant 6–0 victory over Missouri's Jace Roller. Despite the early momentum, Salazar fell in the quarterfinals to Illinois' Danny Pucino and was edged out 6–4 by Missouri's Owen Uhls in the consolation bracket, finishing 1–2 overall.

KJ Evans made a run to the semifinals. Evans won an 11–10 thriller over SIUE's Danny Martinez in the quarterfinals before dropping an 11–1 major decision to Northern Iowa's Cory Land. Evans' won by medical forfeit over Danny Pucino from Illinois. He earned six points in the tournament and finishing in fifth place.

149 Pounds
Carlos Stanton went 0–2 after a fall against Oklahoma State's Casey Swiderski and a 7–2 decision loss to SIUE's Donavon Allen.

Brady Hankin earned one win in a 1–2 showing, highlighted by a 12–9 sudden-victory decision over Illinois' Antonio Alvarado. He was eliminated by Brown's Eli Carr by major decision.

Emilio Trujillo-Deen battled to a 1–2 finish, earning an 11–9 decision over Brown's Austin McBurney. Trujillo-Deens' losses came against Missouri's Seth Mendoza 20-5 and Illinois' Will Baysingar by decision 3-2.

157 Pounds
Daishun Powe dropped two close matches, falling 4–2 to SIUE's Hayden Whidden in the quarterfinals and 3–0 to Missouri's David Gleason in consolations.

165 Pounds
Kilian Schultz opened strong with a 5–2 win over Missouri's Joel Mylin. Schultz fell to Kody Routledge from Oklahoma State and Max Norman from Brown 11-0.

Logan Glynn went 0–2, dropping matches to SIUE's Brock Woodcock and Brown's Max Norman.

184 Pounds
Mahonri Rushton was eliminated after two matches, including a fall against Illinois' Joey Braunagel and a 12–5 decision to Little Rock's Jake Stacey.

197 Pounds
Tyler Perry went 3–2 in his bracket. After an opening-round loss to SIUE's Nick Nosler, Perry rallied with a 14–8 decision over Little Rock's Landon Jobber-Spencer and another win over SIUE's Nick Nolser 8-1 decision, earning six points in the tournament and placing fourth.

Andrew Donahue earned sixth place, going 1-3 on the day. Donahue dominated his first match, earning a 14–1 major decision over Jobber-Spencer before falling just short in a 4–2 to Oklahoma State's Austin Johnson. Trevor Dopps from Oklahoma State won by decision over Donahue 8-5 sudden victory. Donahue medically forfeited his match against Nick Nolser from SIUE.

285 Pounds
Enzo Cappabianca finished 0–2 after a 5–0 loss to Illinois' Ryan Boersma and a narrow 1–0 decision to Northern Iowa's Adam Ahrendsen.

The Bears finished seventh in the tournament.

UP NEXT
The Bears will use this experience as momentum moving forward, turning their attention to their home-opening dual against Campbell on Friday, December 19 at the Bank of Colorado Arena.

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For complete coverage of UNC Athletics, check out the official homepage at uncbears.com. Follow the wrestling team on X (formerly Twitter) (@UNCBearsWrestle), and Instagram (@UNCBearsWrestle).