DES MOINES, Iowa – The Missouri Baptist University Men's Wrestling team took a contingent of 23 wresters to the always-challenging Viking Open in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the NAIA's top-ranked program Grand View University and featuring some of the top junior college, NAIA and NCAA programs in the country. Three Spartans stood out due to their performance, including two in the same weight class.
 
Freshman Dylan Alft of Liberty, Mo. was once again a bright spot for the Spartans, competing in the Freshman/Sophomore division at 149 pounds. After losing his opening round match to Elijah Larsen of top-ranked Grand View University, Alft made some noise in the consolation bracket. He recorded four-consecutive tech fall victories over opponents from Pratt Community College, Northwestern (Iowa) University, Baker University, and Cloud County Community College. In those four matches, Alft outpointed his opponents 68-2. His tournament ended with a loss by fall in Consolation Round 6 to Garrett Lyons of the University of Central Missouri. Alft's losses came to the fourth and sixth place finishers in the division.
 
Freshman John Davis competed in the 125 Freshman/Sophomore division and ended his day with a four and two record. The native of Canton, Ill started his day with a win by fall over Carson Spencer of Ottawa University before a loss in the second round dropped him into the consolation bracket. Davis would then get on a nice run. In his first match in the consolation bracket he won by fall in 16 seconds over Janson Pikington of Midland University. He would follow that up with a win by decision, then another win by tech fall over Martim Moniz of Concordia University. His day would come to an end with a loss in the fifth round of consolations with a loss by fall.
 
Dayton Boyd looked poised to make a run at a title but gave way to a recurring injury that forced him to the sidelines. His tournament started by pinning opponents from Iowa Central Community College and Jamestown (N.D.) University. Next was a solid 21-5 win by tech fall over Moniz. Unfortunately for the redshirt freshman from Farmington, Mo. he had an injury concern heading into the quarterfinals which forced him to withdraw from the tournament prior to a matchup with Bowen Downey of NCAA Division I University of Northern Iowa. Boyd would also forfeit his first match in the consolation bracket. Downey would go on to share the title in the division as he progressed to a championship matchup with a teammate and they both took a double forfeit. Boyd finished three and two on the day with both losses coming by forfeit.
 
Next up for the Spartans is a dual against Quincy University on Tuesday. The women will compete first at 6:00 p.m. with the men's teams competing shortly after.