UNI Wrestling Takes 2nd at 2018 Southern Scuffle

Monday, January 1

Chattanooga, Tennessee

all day

University of Northern Iowa

Southern Scuffle

Photo by: Sam Janicki

UNI Wrestling Takes 2nd at 2018 Southern Scuffle

1/2/2018 9:09:00 PM | Wrestling

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – UNI wrestling sent seven Panthers to the medal rounds of the 2018 Southern Scuffle presented by Compound Sportswear and emerged with a second-place team finish.

"I'm proud of this team and looking forward to the future and continued growth of each of them and the group as a whole," said head coach Doug Schwab. "We have challenged this team with two major events so far this season, and that experience is going to pay off in the coming months."

(1/1/2018) 2018 Southern Scuffle

Final finishes for No. 14 UNI (NWCA team rank / FloWrestling rankings for individuals):

125 pounds – #12 Jay Schwarm, 2^nd
141 pounds – #7 Josh Alber, 3^rd
149 pounds – #6 Max Thomsen, 5^th
165 pounds – Bryce Steiert, 2^nd
174 pounds – #7 Taylor Lujan, 3^rd
184 pounds – #9 Drew Foster, 2^nd
197 pounds – #17 Jacob Holschlag, 2^nd

"Foster looked the best he has this season," Schwab said. "He is only going to continue to get better from here. He got a great opportunity to wrestle an NCAA champion and realized a lot of things during and after the match. I am excited to watch Drew the rest of this season."

At 184 pounds, Drew Foster had a close match with Bryce Carr of Chattanooga to make the finals before losing by 10-2 major decision to the nation's top wrestler, Bo Nickal of Penn State.

"Going into the match, I obviously was excited," Foster said. "You want to compete with the best guys. We had a game plan going into the match that could've been executed better, but matches don't always go your way. We'll get back to the drawing board and continually improve to be better. The great thing is that there is still a lot of season left to go. This tournament was part of the process for our team. We finished second behind a tough Penn State team and ahead of a good Lehigh team. This team is catching steam, and come March, we will be turning heads."

Jay Schwarm took second at 125 pounds, losing by 11-4 to No. 5 Darian Cruz of Lehigh. Schwarm stormed his way through the tournament pinning all his opponents leading up to the title match. He amassed just 5 minutes, 26 seconds on the mat by the time he reached the finals. Schwarm's 10 pins this season leads the UNI team. He also owns the team's fastest fall with a 24-second fall earlier in the season.

At 197 pounds, Jacob Holschlag earned a spot in the finals by knocking off the tournament's top seed with a takedown in sudden victory to win 6-4. In the finals, he got caught early by Penn State's Shakur Rasheed of Penn State to lose by fall in 46 seconds.

Competing as an unattached wrestler, Bryce Steiert finished second at 165 pounds, losing by an 8-0 major decision to the nation's top wrestler, Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State.

Josh Alber dominated Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven with an 18-3 tech fall in 6:03 to take third at 141 pounds. He beat Shoop by major decision earlier in the tournament.

Taylor Lujan pinned his seventh opponent of the season to take third. He jumped out to an early lead before sticking No. #18 Forrest Przybysz of Appalachian State in 2:42. It's his fourth win over a top-20 opponent this year.

The battle for fifth place at 149 pounds ended early when Drexel's Trevor Elfvin was forced to medically forfeit to UNI's Max Thomsen just 2:04 into the match.

LAST YEAR AT THE SCUFFLE

UNI wrestling made its Southern Scuffle debut at last year's event. The Panthers entered the tournament ranked No. 22 in the nation and finished fifth as a team with 87.5 points.

Five Panthers medaled:

Alber - third, 133 pounds
Thomsen - third, 149 pounds
Steiert - third, 165 pounds
Foster - sixth, 184 pounds
Lujan - seventh, 174 pounds

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. Penn State 197
2. Northern Iowa 127
3. Lehigh 102
4. Navy 87
5. Duke 80
6. Drexel 77.5
7. Virginia 71
8. CSU-Bake 69
9. Stanford 68
10. Lock Haven 64.5
11. Chattanooga 51
12. Appalachian State 46
Northern Colorado 46
14. N.C. State 34.5
15. Air Force 32
16. Campbell 29.5
17. Oklahoma State 27
18. Hofstra 26
19. Cleveland State 20
20. Gardner Webb 9.5
George Mason 9.5
22. North Carolina 9
23. The Citadel 8
24. Virginia Tech 3.5