FORT DODGE, IOWA -- Eight Ridgewater College wrestlers earned a spot in the NJCAA National Tournament with solid showings on Sunday at the Region 13 Qualifier.
Greg Arndt led the way with a 3-1 record and a third-place finish at 197 pounds. The Warriors finished fifth overall but first among the MCAC schools. That earned them the conference title and Region 13 Division III championship.
The top four teams, all from Iowa, are scholarship programs with three of them ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Sunday's champion Iowa Central, the tournament host, is ranked No. 1.
"Our kids had a great day," said coach Tom Beyer. "They were facing a lot of nationally ranked wrestlers and we still went about .500 for the day."
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The Warriors had seven qualify by placing top five plus Martin Hagen was a wild-card entry at 174.
Pete Christians failed to advance at 184 when he lost his second match in overtime.
The national tourney comes up Feb. 27-28 in Rochester.
Team scoring
(1) Iowa Central 183 (2) Northern Iowa CC 134 (3) Iowa Lakes 114.5 (4) Ellsworth (Iowa) CC 108.5 (5) Ridgewater College 95 (6) Rochester CTC 80 (7) Itasca CC 65 (8) Minnesota West 40.5
How Ridgewater fared
Key: (Weight, name, won-loss, falls, place)
125: open ... 133: Jake Patnode 2-2 (1) 4th place .... 141: Tyler Stempler 2-2 (2), 5th place ... 149: Trevor Kruger 2-2 (2), 4th place ... 157: Chase Tempel 2-2 (2), 4th place ... 165: Trent Molacek 2-2, 4th place ... 174: Martin Hagen, 1-2, 7th place ... 184: Pete Christians 0-2 ... 197: Greg Arnt 3-1, 3rd place ... Hwt: Cody Kinney 2-2, 5th place
