Four Wrestlers Land Top-Five Finishes on Saturday

Junior Brian Broll (Chaska, Minn./Waconia) earned a runner-up finish, while three others took fifth, and the Buena Vista wrestling team tied for seventh out of 14 teams on Saturday during the Cornell College Matman Invite.

Broll, ranked fifth at 197 pounds by the latest NWCA poll, was the third seed going into competition on Saturday.  After getting a first round bye, Broll pinned Nick Pearch of Luther with a minute left in the first period.  He then cruised to a 7-2 victory in the quarterfinals over Cornell’s Andrew Roberts before avenging a 5-3 loss on Thursday night to Wartbug’s Sam Upah by edging Upah on Saturday, 3-2, and advancing into the championship round.  All that stood between Broll and another individual championship this season was eight-ranked and top-seed Sam Engelland of UW-Oshkosh.  Engelland would go on to top Broll, 5-2 and take the 184-pound title.

Junior Austin Mogg (El Reno, Okla./El Reno) and senior Mike Berardesco (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) anchored the start of the Beavers’ day by each taking fifth place at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively.

Mogg, ranked sixth in the latest rankings and seeded fifth on Saturday picked up a pair of pins to advance into the quarterfinal round.  He then met up with fourth-seed and fifth-ranked Daniel Mendoza of Luther and Mogg was edged, 4-2, SV1.  He then bounced back with 9-5 and 9-4 wins, respectively before being edged 3-2 by seventh ranked Jimmy Gotto of Coe College.  He then capped his day with a 6-3 triumph over Carl Deluca.

Berardesco followed up a weight class later with a fifth-place finish of his own.  He began the day with a bye and then came away with a 6-1 victory over Luther’s Ronald Genco.  After falling to fourth-seeded Jordan Westfall of Coe in the quarterfinals, Berardesco then came back with a pin, as well as a narrow 3-2 decision over Marcus Rivera Ingalls of the University of Dubuque.  He then fell to second-seeded Jacob Williams for a shot at third place, but did close out his day with an 8-1 victory over Braxton Chiccelly, whom he just beat 4-1 in Thursday’s dual.

Heavyweight Matt Sefick (Alta, Iowa/Alta) landed the final placing for the Beavers.  Seeded eighth, Sefcik earned a first round bye and then picked up a first period pin in his first match before falling to top-seeded and fifth-ranked Alex Burkle of Coe College in the quarterfinal round.  After winning 3-1 and 9-4, respectively, he then fell 12-4 before winning by medical forfeit to wrap up his day.

As a team, the Beavers tallied 67 points on the day and tied with Augsburg for seventh place, just 8.5 points back of UW-Oshkosh for fifth.  Coe College took the team title with 153 points, topping the host Rams, who totaled 117 points.

The Beavers will return to action next Saturday when the team wraps up its home schedule with an Iowa Conference dual against the University of Dubuque at 1:00pm.

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