MITCHELL — The opening day of the Great Plains Athletic Conference wrestling meet included five Dakota Wesleyan athletes moving on to the second day of competition.
Doane has the team points lead with 70 after the first day of wrestling, followed by Morningside at 50 points and Hastings at 44 points. Dakota Wesleyan, which has only eight wrestlers competing this weekend, is in the back of the pack with 14.5 team points.
Darien Malone improved to 18-9 on the season with a 6-5 win at 133 pounds in the quarterfinals over Briar Cliff's Gabriel Howard to reach the semifinals. Malone, seeded No. 5 in the bracket, will take on top-seeded Taylor Vasquez, of Morningside, in his semifinal match.
At 165 pounds, DWU's No. 2-seeded Kaleb Bigelow won in sudden victory over Morningside's Ethan Hatcher to reach the semifinals. He will wrestle Concordia's Issiah Burks, who is seeded sixth, in the semifinals on Saturday. Both Malone and Bigelow are assured top-six finishes in their brackets.
Cole Halouksa (174) split his two matches on Friday and remains alive in the wrestlebacks. Hunter Planansky (197) and Colton Hink (285) lost their only matches of the day and will compete on Saturday. Tyson Johnson (157) had to injury default in his first match of the tournament.
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DWU's Tommy Klemesrud (149) and Payton Planansky (184) went 0-2 on Friday and were eliminated.
Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. Saturday on Day 2 of the GPAC Tournament at the Corrigan Fieldhouse at the DWU/Avera Sports and Wellness Complex.
GPAC wrestling tournament
Friday-Saturday at Mitchell
Friday's team scores: 1. Doane 70, 2. Morningside 50, 3. Hastings 44, 4. Briar Cliff 38.5, 5. Northwestern 36.5, 6. Concordia 28, 7. Midland 23.5, 8. Jamestown 20.5, 9. Dakota Wesleyan 14.5.
