MARSHALL, Mo.- The Missouri Baptist men's wrestling squad competed at the Missouri Valley Open hosted by Missouri Valley College on Saturday. The Spartans finished with three wrestlers in the top-6, led by junior Blake Johnson, who finished 5th at 184.
Johnson was slated into the quarterfinals and pitted against Jackson Sweetman of Benedictine College (Kan.). Sweetman had a back-and-forth round-of-16 match and came into his match against Johnson hot. Sweetman found a quick takedown and a two-point nearfall to place five on the scoreboard early in the first.
Johnson responded quickly with a reversal, then went to work on top. Johnson scored 12 unanswered points and found the fall at the two-minute mark to move on to the semifinals. After a scoreless first period in the semifinals, Johnson's opponent chose bottom and, after a minute, was able to find an escape and a takedown shortly after to go up 4-0 in the span of 30 seconds. Johnson escaped before the period closed to make it 4-1.
Johnson chose bottom to start the third, but despite his best efforts, the junior from Ballwin, Mo. was unable to escape and drop the match 5-1. Johnson was sent to the consolation side of the bracket and dropped a tight decision to go to the fifth-place bout. Johnson's placement-match opponent reached his match limit, and Johnson claimed the team's highest placement on the weekend.
Amad Soufi competed at 285 pounds for MBU and finished 6th on the weekend. Soufi rolled through his early rounds with ease, as he captured two falls and outscored those opponents 16-3. In the quarterfinals, Soufi was pitted against the returning national finalist and current No.1 Austin Foye of Central Methodist (Mo.).
After a scoreless first period, Foye chose bottom and escape. Soufi kept the pressure and found a takedown to grab the 3-1 as they headed into the final period. Soufi chose neutral, but was hit for stalling twice and gave up one penalty point. Shortly after the penalty, Foye grabbed a takedown and finished the match on top to win 5-3.
Soufi found a second wind on the backside and grabbed two more dominant major decisions and outscored those opponents 28-4. Soufi wrestled a returning national qualifier in his consolation semifinal match and fell 2-1 after an early penalty point in favor of Soufi's opponent. Soufi hit his match limit and finished 4-2, with two falls and two majors.
CJ Bauer was the last placer for the Spartans as he finished sixth at 165. The freshman from Hillsboro, Mo. started his day off slow as he went scoreless in the first period of his opening match, but found a takedown in the second. Bauer went on a tear and scored nine more unanswered points to finish with the major decision in the round of 16.
In the quarterfinals, Bauer gave up the first takedown early, but responded with a reversal, a penalty point, and a four-point nearfall to go up 7-3 to close the first. His opponent found a second gear and outscored Bauer 8-3 to take the 11-10 lead as they went into the final period. Bauer chose neutral and found a takedown early and rode out his opponent to win 13-11.
Bauer drew a pair of NCAA Division 1 wrestlers from the University of Missouri and the University of Little Rock (Ark.), and fell to the fifth-place bout, where he lost and took sixth.
The Spartans host the Graceland University Yellowjackets (Iowa) for Senior Night on Thursday Feb. 12. Wrestling to start at 6 p.m.
