FINAL BRACKET

Luke Rynish showed again why he's one of the nation's top wrestlers at 174 pounds as he dominated the field at the Harold Nichols Cyclone Open hosted by Iowa State University. Rynish was one of four Rangers to place at the tournament. Collin Crume took third at 133 while Davien Willis (197) and James Malechek (285) each finished fourth.

"We're very happy with the results," said head coach Gregg Lewis. "It was a real strong performance from the guys. These guys are scrappers. The whole team performed really well."

Rynish picked up right where he left off after winning the Pointer Open last weekend in Stevens Point. He moved to 8-0 on the year with no one coming within eight points of him on Sunday. He defeated Cody Caldwell from Northern Iowa, 15-7 in the semifinals before controlling Mike England of Iowa State, 13-4 in the title bout.

"Just a dominant performance from Luke," said Lewis. "The only points scored against him were escapes. He was just awesome."

Crume reached the semifinals with a pair of victories over Iowa State wrestlers. He pinned Scott Moody in 1:40 before defeating Connor Clark, 5-3. He was defeated by Ryan Juach of Northern Iowa before rebounding in the consolation bracket by defeating Dylan Wright of St. Cloud State and Travis Evans of Grand View.

"Collin did an outstanding job today against some real quality kids," said Lewis.

Willis fell in his second match against Iowa State's Cole Shafer who went on to win the title at 197. He battled back through the consolation bracket with four straight wins including a 9-0 victory over Karl Spain (unattached) to get to the third place match. There he lost a hard-fought 5-3 decision to Luke Munkelwitz from St. Cloud State.

"Three pins and just another real strong day from Davien," said Lewis.

Malechek had a similar fate as he advanced to the second round with a pin but was knocked into the consolation bracket with a loss to eventual champion, Matt Gibson from Iowa State.

From there he advanced through five more rounds, with three pins along the way, to earn his spot in the third place bout before dropping a decision to Blayne Beale of Northern Iowa.

"That's two weeks in a row with a real strong showing from James," added Lewis.

The Rangers were without All-Americans Dillon Bera and Matthew Gille who missed the meet due to injuries

Freshman Jake Papke had a solid day as well. He was 2-2 at 125. Zach Noel and Laquan Lundford each picked up a win at the tournament as well.

The Rangers will be back in action next Saturday, November 19. They'll head to Mequon to take part in the Concordia Open. The first matches are set to begin at 9:00 a.m.