NIACC's Minto, Valdez seek finals berths
COUNCIL BLUFFS - NIACC's Christian Minto and Jose Valdez will seek berths in the NJCAA national finals Thursday morning at the Mid-America Center.
The championship semifinals begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Minto, who is ranked No. 1 at 165 pounds, is seeking his second straight berth in the national finals. Minto fell to Iowa Western's Isaiah Crosby in last season's 165-pound finals for his lone collegiate loss.
Minto, who is 11-0 this season and has a glossy 33-1 career record, faces fifth-ranked Collin Smith of Western Wyoming in the 165-pound semifinals.
Minto moved to the semifinals with three wins on Wednesday. He pinned Barton's Stephan Duffy in 2:00 in his first round match, topped Southwestern Oregon's Austin Raby 9-5 in the second round and downed Cloud County's Cooper Mosier 5-1 in the quarterfinals.
Smith moved to the semifinals with wins over Northeastern Oklahoma's Richard Mack (3-2), Garrett's Justice Hefley (by fall in 4:54) and Iowa Western's Fabian Padilla (3-2).
In the other 165-pound semifinal, Iowa Central's sixth-ranked Keaton Geerts faces RCTC's second-ranked Seth Brossard.
Minto owns wins over both Gearts and Brossard in dual meets this season. Minto took a 16-1 technical fall from Gearts and gained a 17-8 major decsion over Brossard.
Valdez, who is ranked fourth, faces Clackamas' top-ranked Tarik Sutkovic in the 197-pound semifinals.
Valdez had to work overtime in two of his three matches on Wednesday.
Valdez took a 19-6 major decision from Pratt's Bryce Westmoreland in his opening round match. He then edged Rowan's Curtis Thomas 2-1 (2SV) in the second round and nipped Western Wyoming's Tyer Scheurn 6-4 in the first overtime in the quarterfinals.
Sutkovic picked up a 17-2 technical fall over Northwest Kansas Tech's Davis Lee in the first round. He topped Indian Hills' Khris Walton 10-8 in the second round and pinned Muskegon's Kayleb Venema in 5:46 in the quarterfinals.
In the other 197-pound semifinal, Cloud County's second-ranked Zach Ferris meets Iowa Western's third-ranked Josh McFarland.
