Saint John’s wrestling travels to Florida for the Citrus Invitational this Sunday and Monday, Dec. 29-30, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John’s posted a 38-6 dual win over Itasca C.C. in its home opener last Saturday (Dec. 21) in Sexton Arena. The Johnnies took advantage of three forfeits and won five of the six matches in the victory. Both teams forfeited at 125 pounds.
Senior Jerod Novak (Aitkin, Minn.) started the Johnnies’ five-match win streak with a 9-2 decision at 165 pounds, his first bout of the season.
Sophomore Jacob Scherber (Buffalo, Minn.) followed with his 10th win of the season (10-6 record), in dominating fashion, thanks to a 23-0 technical fall at 174 pounds.
A pair of freshmen, Lincoln Shinn (Willmar, Minn.) and Mason Nibbe (Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central Area), sandwiched senior Dominic Skawiniak’s (Rogers, Minn.) pin at 197 pounds with decisions at 184 and heavyweight, respectively.
THE TOURNAMENT: The tournament is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET competition Sunday and Monday at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center.
Citrus Invitational Brackets/Results on TrackWrestling.com
WHO WILL BE THERE: In addition to the Johnnies, other teams scheduled to have competitors in the tournament include No. 3 Augsburg, No. 7 Baldwin Wallace (Ohio), Cornell (Iowa), Ferrum (Va.), No. 21 John Carroll (Ohio), Johns Hopkins (Md.), Keiser (Fla.), Division I (club) Liberty (Va.), No. 16 NYU, Ozarks (Ark.), Rhode Island, No. 24 Washington and Lee (Va.) and Williams (Mass.).
LAST YEAR’S TOURNEY: Last year’s Citrus Invitational consisted of 222 wrestlers from 13 schools, 11 of which were from the NCAA Division III level. Wrestlers who suffered two losses the first day and were eliminated, as well as those that recorded their second loss Sunday morning, were added to separate single-elimination consolation brackets in adjacent to the main tournament.
Senior Noah Becker (Browerville, Minn.) led the way for SJU with a 4-1 record and third-place finish at 133 pounds. He recorded a pair of major decisions Saturday but dropped his first match of Day 2, a narrow 6-4 loss to RIT’s Chris Horton – the eventual champion – in the semifinal. He bounced back with a technical fall and claimed third with a 4-2 victory over Ferrum’s Levi Englman.
Three Johnnies finished in the top two of the consolation brackets, including wins from Skawiniak and senior Quincy Spiering (Mounds View, Minn./St. Thomas Academy). Spiering posted a 4-2 record at heavyweight, including a 2-2 mark on Saturday. He posted a 3-0 shutout in his first match of Day 2 and took first with a pin in 48 seconds. Skawiniak responded from a 0-2 exit on Day 1, in which he did not record a point, with a masterful four pins to claim first at 184 pounds.
Scherber was the busiest of the 11 Johnnies in the tournament, tallying a 6-3 record to finish second in the 174-pound consolation bracket. He collected a 3-1 record on Saturday, with the lone loss coming to a wrestler from Liberty, and followed that with three straight wins before falling to RIT’s Morgan Seller in the title bout.
Check out Johnnies Wrestling at gojohnnies.com.
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