Kelsey Ackerman | Sports Co-Editor
The Buena Vista University (BVU) Wrestling team finished their season the Feb. 25 at the NCAA Central Regional Tournament.
Going into the tournament, head coach Jeff Breese’s main focus was to qualify wrestlers for the NCAA National Tournament.
“Qualifying to the NCAAs through our central region is very difficult.” Breese said.
The Beavers ended up falling just short in the semifinal rounds in two weight classes.
First, senior Ernesto Garcia made a run in the 125-pound bracket to eventually finish sixth place.
Garcia went without losing a match until his semifinal match, where he fell to CJ Pestano of Central College 8-1. Pestano went on to become the champion in the 125-pound weight class.
Garcia then fell in the consolation bracket to Connor Murphy 7-4, who he had beaten earlier in the day 10-9. Garcia finished in sixth place.
The other wrestler to make a run deep into the tournament was sophomore Brad Kerkoff at 157-pounds.
Kerkoff fell in the quarterfinals to Logan Thomsen of Wartburg College 9-2. He made a come-back through the consolation bracket before falling to Jeremy Vester of Central College 11-9. He also finished at sixth place.
With Garcia and Kerkoff’s sixth-place finishes, the two wrestlers also achieve Scholar All-American status.
“This gives us a Scholar All-American for the third straight year,” Breese said, “I am excited about that.”
Kerkoff was excited about his entire team’s performance, and saw a big difference even just compared to the end of last season.
“Many of our guys went toe to toe with some of the best wrestlers in the nation, and gave full effort expecting to win,” Kerkoff said, “We are gaining respect among the competition, and people are getting more and more nervous about having to wrestle against us.”
Senior Andrew Nelson, sophomore Shane Vaughan, and freshman Riley Altenburg all joined Kerkoff and Garcia in the top 8 by making runs through the consolation bracket, and falling their consolation quarterfinals matches.
“It was good to see five guys in the top 8 in the region. This is our highest total yet as a coaching staff,” Breese said.
With three of those five returning, the future looks promising for the Beaver wrestling team. One of the biggest things Breese wants to focus on this off-season is recruiting, as well as maintaining a high level of training with current athletes on the team.
“It is essential that we get the team to buy into consistency with training through the spring and summer in order to make them jump levels next year,” Breese said.
With the 2016-17 wrestling season coming to a close, the end of the season also marks the end of the career for two BVU wrestlers, Garcia and Nelson.
“I am proud of Ernesto and Andrew for finishing out their career at BVU with a lot of fight and heart,” Breese said, “They have both improved immensely over the last three years.”
Image by Emily Kenny
