Grand View Takes Lead After Second Session

DES MOINES, Iowa – (Team Scores, Brackets) Grand View (Iowa) took over the top spot at the 2012 NAIA Wrestling National Championships in the second session Thursday in the Jacobson Exhibition Center. The Vikings advanced nine wrestlers through to Friday’s quarterfinals and will also have a trio of grapplers battling through the wrestlebacks. Southern Oregon is in second place with 38.5 points and has seven wrestlers on the championship side. With 36.5 points, Great Falls (Mont.) is third, followed by Oklahoma City with 33 points and Montana State-Northern with 30 points to round out the top-five teams.

Of the 26 All-Americans that qualified to the event, 17 have earned a spot in the quarterfinals, including three of the four former national champions.

Mitchell Lofstedt (36-2) won his second match of the day with bonus points in his quest for a second title at Southern Oregon. The 125-pounder went to work with a 16-1 (7:00) technical fall of Bo Newport of Baker (Kan.). He moves into a quarterfinal meeting with Bryden Lazaro of Dickinson State (N.D.). Like Lofstedt, Lazaro (32-3) has posted a pair of bonus point victories: an opening bout technical fall and a major decision in the third round.

A collision between Campbellsville’s (Ky.) Tommy Pretty (Ky.) and Great Falls’ Myles Mazurkiewicz is a regular occurrence at the National Championships. The pair battled for the 133-pound title in 2010, with Pretty taking a 14-3 major decision, followed by a second-round matchup last year, in which Pretty notched a 5-3 decision. This time around it was Mazurkiewicz’s turn. Pretty took a 2-0 lead into the second period. Mazurkiewicz deferred, sending Pretty to the down position, where the Argonaut junior used a cradle for two nearfall points. While in control, he racked up 1:17 of riding time. With no points scored in the third period, Mazurkiewicz’s riding time was the deciding factor that earned him the 3-2 victory and a spot in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Mazurkiewicz’s teammate and defending 141-pound champ Anthony Varnell also punched a ticket to the quarterfinals with a 5-2 decision over DaMonte Riley of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.). The senior will put his 26-3 record up against Baker’s Joel Olivas (17-12), who won his third round match with a 1:12 fall of Robert Meador of Dickinson State (N.D.).

Reigning 184-pound champion Evan Hinebauch of Montana State-Northern stuck Dickinson State’s (N.D.) Jesse Hellinger in 5:37 to land in the quarterfinals. The 33-9 senior will square off against junior Allen Scruggs of Campbellsville. Scruggs slipped past Oklahoma City’s Andrew Pontikes with a 2-1 decision. The third session of the 55th annual event will start Friday at 10 a.m. CST. Championship quarterfinals will be contested, along with two rounds of consolation bracket action.