CRETE, Neb. – The Missouri Baptist Men's Wrestling team faced some tough matchups at the very challenging Doane University Open on Saturday.
 
The most successful day was turned in by sophomore Dillon Witt.  The Sullivan, Mo. native finished with four wins and two defeats, but that hardly tells the story of his day.  Witt started in dominant fashion with a couple of tech falls, over Ethan Lemon of Indian Hill Community College and Dallas Dunn of Iowa Western Community College, respectively. In fact, he was not scored upon in either of those matches while scoring 33 himself. The victories put him through to the quarterfinals at 133 pounds. That is where Witt ran into Hayden Mills of the University of Nebraska, an NCAA DI school that wrestles in the prestigious Big 12 Conference. Dillon held his own but gave up a takedown in the first period and a penalty point and eventually a riding time point in the third to take a 4-0 loss. Mills would go on to finish second overall in the 133-pound Amateur division. Witt was not done yet though, as he won his next two matches by wide margins, 12-1 and 4-0, the latter of which was his second victory of the day over Lemon. Witt's day ended in the Consolation Semifinals where he lost a 14-5 major decision to Paul Ruff of Iowa Western Community College. On the day, Witt lost two matches to the No. 2 and No. 3 finishers in the weight class.
 
Fellow 133-pounder Daryl Mills had a less flashy but still productive day. He won a 5-2 decision over Nathaniel Lucero of Grand View University in his first match. In the quarterfinals he lost by a razor-thin 3-0 decision to Zachary Ourada of the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Just a single second period escape, a penalty, and a riding time point were enough.  Ourada would go on to claim the championship in the 133-pound Amateur division. Coincidentally, both Mills and his teammate Witt were knocked into the consolation bracket by the first and second place wrestlers in the weight class.
 
Mills and Witt were hardly alone in facing some tough matchups on this day.  Freshman 157-pounder Joel Campbell lost in the quarterfinals via sudden victory to Johnny Cash Thomas of the University of Saint Mary (KS) who ended up finishing 5^th. That knocked Campbell into the Consolation bracket where his day ended with a loss to the fourth overall finisher.
 
Freshman Dominic Calvin lost to the second-place finisher at 174 in his opening match. Redshirt freshman Logan Neuman made his return to the mat but lost in the opening round to the eventual champion at 197.
 
The Spartans will be back on the mats in Kansas City, Mo. in two weeks for the Avila University Eagles Duals. In succession on December 17, they will take on Waldorf University, Baker University, Ottawa University, and then the host Eagles. The action begins at 10:00 a.m. for the Spartans.