NJCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP: Cardinals sit fifth after first day with three semifinalists

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Now, the real work starts.

North Idaho College advanced three to today’s semifinal round to finish Day 1 of the NJCAA wrestling championships in fifth-place with 61.5 points at the Mid-American Center on Friday.

“It’s kind of the story of wrestling,” NIC interim coach Derrick Booth said. “Anything can happen at nationals. The highs are high, and the lows are lows. And we had it all today.”

Sophomore Brant Porter (141 pounds), Kanai Tapia (149) and Benjamen Mitchell (157) advanced to the semifinals this morning after going unbeaten on the first day. Sophomore Ledger Petracek (165) is in the consolation bracket.

All four are All-Americans.

“Ben wrestled great today,” said Booth, who wrestled on NIC’s last national championship team in 2013. “He was trailing (in his semifinal match) and came from behind to get a fall to get onto that podium. He’s always looking to put someone on his back. He caught his guy and it was a big win for him.”

Same goes for both Tapia and Porter.

“Kanai’s been Mr. Consistent,” Booth said. “He shows up each time he hits the mat. We want him to get that final one heading to the finals tonight. Brant’s a guy that’s going to push the pace and compete all seven minutes. We’re really excited for him in the morning.”

NIC was second with 35 points after the second round.

Defending champion Clackamas of Oregon City, Ore., is 12th with 50 points.

“We just need to come out and finish this thing right,” Booth said. “We want to come back with some hardware.”

TEAM SCORES — 1, Western Wyoming 89.5. 2, Pratt 84.5. 3, Iowa Western 68. 4, Iowa Central 62.5. 5, North Idaho 61.5. 6, Northeast Oklahoma 61. 7 (tie), Indian Hills, Northwest Kansas Tech 57. 9, Nassau 55.5. 10, Triton 52. 11, Northwest (Wyo.) 51. 12, Clackamas 50. 13, Rochester 49.5. 14 (tie), Ellsworth, Harper 35.5. 16, Ridgewater 34.5. 17, Carl Albert State 33. 18 (tie), Cloud County Snow 30.5. 20, NIACC 28.5. 21, Cowley College 26. 22, Camden County 25. 23, Northeastern 22.5. 24, Labette 21.25, Itasca 20.5. 26 (tie), Lackawanna, Southwestern Oregon 17.5. 28, Bryant and Stratton 16.5. 29, Joliet 15.5. 30, Southwestern Michigan 12.5. 31, Muskegon 11. 32, Otero 10. 33, St. Clair 8.5. 34, Bergen 75. 35, Southwest Virginia 6.5. 36 (tie), Henry Ford, Mott, Niagara 6. 39 (tie), Colby, Iowa Lakes 4.5. 41 (tie), Garrett, Patrick & Henry 4. 43 (tie), Barton, Jamestown 3.5. 45 (tie), Middlesex, Morton, Rowan 3. 48, Neosho County 2.5. 49, Union 1.5. 50, Northland 1. 51, Umpqua .05. 52 (tie), Ancilla, Southwest Virginia, Sussex County, Thaddeus Stevens 0.

CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET

First round

125 — Kobi Johnson, NIC, tf. Jordan Simpson, Southwestern Michigan, 18-2.

141 — Brant Porter, NIC, md. Gideon Cole, Southwestern Oregon, 10-1.

149 — Kanai Tapia, NIC, p. Omar Zamora, Rochester, 5:42.

157 — Benjamen Mitchell, NIC, p. Xavier Byrne, Henry Ford, 4:07.

165 — Ledger Petracek, NIC, tf. Rice Robins, Muskegon, 16-1.

174 — Christian Smoot, Western Wyoming, p. Ethan Miller, NIC, 1:45.

184 — Eln Carlos, NIACC, md. Travis Waldner, NIC, 11-0.

197 — Bradley Whitwright, NIC, p. Matthews Marin, Bergen, 6:37.

285 — Gavin Dodge, Northwest Kansas Tech, d. Shai Murray, NIC, 5-3.

Second round

125 — Johnson, NIC, d. Rocco Visci, Rochester, 18-13.

141 — Porter, NIC, d. La’ron Ruffin, St. Clair, 6-3.

149 — Tapia, NIC, p. Xzavier Seuss, St. Clair, 1:03.

157 — Mitchell, NIC, md. Landon Gode, Rochester, 14-3.

165 — Petracek, NIC, tf. Aidan Dick, Camden County, 17-2.

197 — Whitwright, NIC, p. Austin Suess, Southwest Virginia, 6:25.

285 — Gavin Dodge, Northwest Kansas Tech, d. Murray, NIC

Quarterfinals

125 — Jett Strickenberger, Northwest Kansas Tech, p. Johnson, NIC, 1:00.

141 — Porter, NIC, d. Matthew Lewis, Indian Hills, 4-2.

149 — Tapia, NIC, d. Finnegan McFadden, Camden County, 4-1.

157 — Mitchell, NIC, p. Adam Buslello, Nassau, 1:55.

165 — Cayleb Atkins, Pratt, d. Petracek, NIC, 7-0.

197 — Michael Gasper, Clackamas, md. Whitwright, 16-2.

CONSOLATION BRACKET

First round

174 — Miller, NIC, p. Gerrit Andrus, Muskegon, 2:34.

184 — Waldner, NIC, md. Jaimeson Shea, Nassau, 16-4.

Second round

174 — Sherman Dixon, Triton, md. Miller, NIC, 14-6.

184 — Jeremiah Voliva, Labette, d. Waldner, NIC, 4-3.

Quarterfinals

125 — Bridger Ricks, Western Wyoming, d. Johnson, NIC, 3-2.

165 — Petracek, NIC, d. Holden Andrews, Western Wyoming, 10-3.

197 — Talmage Carman, Western Wyoming, p. Whitwright, NIC, :53.