Three Trojans seek finals berths
COUNCIL BLUFFS - Three NIACC wrestlers will seek berths in the finals at the NJCAA national wrestling tournament Saturday morning at the Mid-America Center.
Also, three other Trojans will compete in the consolation side of the bracket with hopes as climbing as high as third on Saturday night's podium.
The semifinals and consolation rounds start at 10:30 Saturday morning with the finals taking place Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Seeking berths in the finals will be Christian Minto (165), Ein Carlos (174) and Jose Valdez (197). Wrestling in the consolation bracket will be Clarence Lee-Green (133), Quentrevion Campbell (141) and Deville Dentis (149).
Minto (14-0) faces North Idaho's 10th-ranked Ledger Patracek in the 165-pound semifinals. Minto, the defending national champion at 165 pounds with a career record of 49-1, edged Ellsworth's ninth-ranked Mirzo Khayitov 4-2 in three overtimes to move to the semifinals for the third straight season.
Carlos (7-3) faces Iowa Central's top-ranked Jose Rodriguez in the semifinals. Carlos and Rodriguez did not meet in the regular season or at the district tournament.
In the 174-pound quarterfinals, Carlos topped Northeast Oklahoma A&M's second-ranked Dayton Fields 6-4. Carlos, who is unranked, topped sixth-ranked Jameel Coles of Northwest Kansas Tech 8-6 in overtime in his first round match.
Valdez (15-0) faces Cloud County's third-ranked Zach Ferris in the semfinals. The semifinal match is a rematch of the 2021 197-pound title match won by Ferris in three extra sessions.
In the 197-pound quarterfinals, the second-ranked Valdez stopped Western Wyomin's sixth-ranked Tyler Scheurn 9-4.
In the 133-pound consolation round, the ninth-ranked Lee-Green (14-7) faces Cowley's unranked Ryan Smith.
In the 141-pound consolation round, Campbell (12-2) faces Niagara County's fourth-ranked Frankie Gissendanner.
In the 149-pound consolation round, the fifth-ranked Dentis (14-5) takes on Bryant & Stratton's ninth-ranked Jalin Connor.
NIACC is in seventh place in the team standings with 70.5 points.
