District tournament set for today
COUNCIL BLUFFS - The No. 7 NIACC wrestling team will compete in the NJCAA North Central District Championships on Sunday on the Iowa Western campus.
The six-team tournament starts at 10 a.m. Due to COVID-19, there will be no spectators allowed at the six-team event.
Defending district champion and host Iowa Western enters the tournament ranked No. 5. Iowa Central is ranked ninth, Indian Hills is 12th and Iowa Lakes is tied for 13th.
Typically, the district championship serves as the national qualifier for the NJCAA Wrestling Championships qualifying 70% of participants, and as the host region, earning an additional 10 qualifiers.
However, due to COVID-19 causing many schools across the country to opt out of the spring season, the NJCAA Wrestling Committee voted in favor of the national championships being an open tournament. Each institution has the ability to enter one wrestler per weight class for a total of 10 from each school.
NIACC, which is 2-1 in ICCAC duals, enters the tournament with four ranked wrestlers, including top-ranked 165-pounder sophomore Christian Minto (3-0). Minto, who was the national runner-up at 165 last season, has a career record of 25-1 with four falls, five technical falls and 5 major decisions.
Minto earned the top seed for the district tournament. He will face the winner of Iowa Lakes' Dallas Horne and Iowa Western's Fabian Padilla in the semifinals.
Other ranked wrestlers for the Trojans are fourth-ranked 125-pounder Clarence Lee-Green (2-1), fifth-ranked 184-pounder Chase McCleish (2-1) and third-ranked 197-pounder Jose Valdez (3-0).
FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS
174 - Randry Mugisha (NIACC) vs. Michael Waggoner (Iowa Western)
285 - Troy Monahan III (NIACC) vs. Caled Collins (Indian Hills)
SECOND-ROUND MATCHUPS
125 - Clarence Lee-Green (NIACC) vs. Karsten Johnson (Iowa Lakes)
141 - Quentrevion Campbell (NIACC) vs. Bret Minor (Iowa Central)
149 - Brody Hawtrey (NIACC) vs. Dustin Jones (Indian Hills)
157 - Josh Barretta (NIACC) vs. Eli Lloyd (Indian Hills)
184 - Chase McCleish (NIACC) vs. Logan Koedam (Iowa Lakes)
197 - Jose Valdez (NIACC) vs. Trent Strong (Iowa Western)
SEMIFINAL MATCHUP
165 - Christian Minto (NIACC) vs. Dallas Horne (Iowa Lakes)/Fabian Padilla (Iowa Western)
