Few bright spots among conference wrestling losses

On Tuesday, the Raider wrestling team played host to Morningside and Buena Vista for a triangular dual at the Bultman Center.
The Raiders were beaten by conference rival Morningside 32-6, who entered the dual ranked No. 7 in the nation. Northwestern emerged victorious over Buena Vista and finished with a 25-18 win.
In the Morningside dual, bright spots were few for the Raiders. Sophomore Zach Fishman beat his opponent by decision 4-1 in the 165-pound weight class. Sophomore George Portillo beat his opponent 4-3 and won by decision in the heavyweight class.
The tides turned when NW matched up against Buena Vista. Three Raiders won their matches by decision and another won by major decision.
Senior Nathan Manfull crushed his opponent 11-2 and won by major decision in the 149-pound weight class. Junior John Lynch won by decision 3-2 in the 157-pound weight class. In the 197-pound weight class, freshman Luis Rivera-Santiago won by decision 10-3. Portillo defeated his opponent by decision 8-4 in the heavy weight class.
“I think we saw some really good things, and some guys started to make some big improvements, but there are always things to work on,”Manfull said. “It was really nice to get the dual win against Buena Vista.”
Last Saturday, the Raiders hosted conference foe Hastings, NCAA Division-II opponent Dickinson State and Waldorf College. Against stiff competition, the Raiders fell to Hastings 28-18 and were beaten by Dickinson State 28-15. The Raiders were also narrowly defeated by Waldorf 23-20.
“On Saturday we had a lot of good individual efforts throughout the duals, but we struggled to have everyone on the same page throughout the day,” Manfull said. “We saw some really good matchups wrestled at a high level.”
Against Hastings, freshman Randy Null won by decision 5-1 in the 174-pound weight class, and Portillo finished 5-3 and also won by decision in the heavyweight class. In the matchup with Dickinson State, Manfull won by decision 6-5 in the 141-pound weight class. Fishman and sophomore JL Mayo both won their matches by fall in the 133- and 165-pound weight classes.
Against Waldorf, two Raiders won by major decision. Null won 14-4 in the 174-pound weight class, and Lynch came out on top 16-5 in the 157-pound weight class. Both Fishman and Manfull won by fall in the 165- and 141-pound weight classes.
The Raiders return to the mat at 9 a.m. Saturday at Sioux City for the Briar Cliff Open.