William Penn on Short End in Heart Dual Against Missouri Valley

Oskaloosa--The Statesmen men's wrestling team was unable to pick up its first win of the year, falling to Missouri Valley 31-10 in a Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet Thursday.

WPU (0-4, 0-4 Heart) won three matches in a row at one point, but that was the only raised hands that the home squad would earn versus the 15th-ranked Vikings (2-0, 1-0 Heart).

MVC motored out to a huge 21-0 advantage as it won the first five matches of the evening.

165-pounder Cameron Hargrove (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill., Sports Management) finally got the navy and gold on the scoreboard as he shut out Brenden Parks in a 9-0 major decision.

Kendal Pugh (So., Letts, Iowa, Business Management) kept it going as he held off Trevor Wilson 12-9 at 174 pounds, while Branson Bottorff (Sr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology) dropped Drake Tipton in the 184-pound matchup.  Bottorff, who has previously been ranked nationally, knocked off #19 Tipton 10-5.

Down just 21-10, the Statesmen unfortunately could not make up any more ground as they lost the final two bouts.

"The guys wrestled a really solid Missouri Valley team tonight that was full of talented individuals," Head Coach Drew Sams said.  "I thought we showed up and answered the challenge well against multiple nationally-ranked guys, including Branson Bottorff's big victory.  This gave us a great benchmark of where we can be heading into break."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Crete, Neb. Saturday to compete in the Doane Open at 9 a.m.

125--Ryker Smith (M) won by major decision over Jeffery Myers, 12-3 (0-4)
133--Haden Hernandez (M) won by major decision over Lane Scorpil, 14-4 (0-8)
141--Donavan Parn (M) won by fall over Carson Jensen, 2:21 (0-14)
149--Bishop Rush (M) won by major decision over Hector Diaz, 15-1 (0-18)
157--Olson Anderson (M) won by decision over Trent Evans, 14-8 (0-21)
165--Cameron Hargrove (W) won by major decision over Brenden Parks, 9-0 (4-21)
174--Kendal Pugh (W) won by decision over Trevor Wilson, 12-9 (7-21)
184--Branson Bottorff (W) won by decision over Drake Tipton, 10-5 (10-21)
197--Elijah Hynes (M) won by fall over Anthony Hackman, 0:43 (10-27)
285--Jayden Joseph (M) won by major decision over Jesse Schwery, 12-2 (10-31)