(HAYS, Kan.) — Central Missouri wresting competed in the MIAA Championship on Sunday afternoon. The team finished fifth in the MIAA with 43.5 points, Nebraska-Kearney taking the top spot for the second season in a row. No. 1 Frank Cagnina (149) was the champion of his weight class, while Ty Loethen (165) and Josh Thomson (174) finished third, and Hunter Neighbors (133) and Zeb Spicer (157) were fourth.
Malacai Collins (125) defeated Jabez Zinabu (Truman) in a 14-2 major decision, but fell by decision in his following two matches to Connor Bolling (Nebraska-Kearney) and Josh Breece (Central Oklahoma).
Neighbors had his first match back from an injury against Symon Seaton (Fort Hays State), who he lost to at the UNK Open in the beginning of the season. Neighbors pinned Seaton in their rematch at 4:59. He then was pinned by No. 1 Daniel DeShazer (Nebraska-Kearney) at 0:49. In his third match, he decisioned Kris Workman (Newman) at 3-0, but then was pinned for the second time in the tournament at 2:16 by Matt Katusin (Lindenwood). This is the second year in a row that Neighbors finished fourth at the MIAA Tournament.
Eric Mateo (141) fell by decision in this first and third match of the day to Dustin Reed (Central Oklahoma) and Kyle Webb (Lindenwood). In this second match he pinned Mark Smith (Truman) for the second time this season. The fall came at 6:49.
Cagnina was given at bye in the first round of the tournament, and then beat No. 7 Terrel Wilbourn (Lindenwood) by 3-1 decision. He faced Destin McCauley (Nebraska-Kearney) for the first time in the championship match, and pinned him in 0:25.
Spicer was beaten by No. 5 Chase White (Nebraska-Kearney), for the second time this season, by technical fall at 17-0. Spicer then had a rematch against Colton Duhr (Newman), who he had lost to in the regular season. He pinned Duhr in 1:22. In his final match, Spicer fell to Derrick Weller (Lindenwood) with a 9-4 decision.
Loethen beat Devon Fenstermaker (Truman) by 4-1 decision to start, but then fell to No. 1 Chris Watson (Central Oklahoma) for the second time this season. He lost by 13-7 decision. Loethen then went on to beat Bradley Little (Fort Hays State) and Luke Roth (Lindenwood) by 8-4 and 7-3 decisions respectively. Loethen had beaten Roth earlier in the season in a dual.
Thomson all new opponents in the tournament, starting with Morgan Fitzgerald (Lindenwood), who he won over by 2-0 decision. Thomson then fell to Josh Rodriguez (Fort Hays State) by 8-0 major decision. Thomson beat Michael Kubik (Newman) by 10-3 decision, before facing Fitzgerald for the second time on the day. Beating him in the rematch by 11-3 major decision.
Josh Ploof (184) and Nick Lovejoy (197) both fell in two. Ploof was pinned by Mark Fiala (Nebraska-Kearney) at 2:04, and then fell by 3-0 decision to Znick Ferrell (Central Oklahoma). Lovejoy was decisioned at 10-3 by Kenny Breaux (Lindenwood), and then pinned by Steven Cooksley (Newman) in 4:18.
Todd Brier (285) competed in a new weight class for the MIAA Tournament. He was major decisioned by Jack Page (Fort Hays State) in his first match. He then pinned Ben Dudley (Truman) in 1:26, but fell at 1:46 to Cody Dauphin (Central Oklahoma) in his final match of the day.
Cagnina improved his record to 31-2, and tied Loethen for fastest fall of the season. Loethen is now 17-6, while Thomson is 23-13 overall. Neighbors is 24-13 after the tournament, and Spicer is 7-12.
The Mules will compete at the NCAA-II Super Regional in Edmond, Okla. on Feb. 28 and March 1. The tournament will be held in the Hamilton Field House, but the start times have not been set yet.