EDMOND – Ryan Nichols used quickness and aggression to negate a big weight disparity in scoring a first-period fall in the final match to put an exclamation point on Central Oklahoma’s 34-6 thumping of Maryville Friday night.
The top-ranked Bronchos won eight of the 10 bouts with four other bonus-point wins in moving to 5-1 while extending their school-record Hamilton Field House winning streak to 29 in a row.
Nichols’ fall capped UCO’s final outing of the first semester.
The sophomore heavyweight entered the match at 222 pounds, 50 pounds lighter than MU’s Orest Nazarchuk, but it didn’t matter. Nichols was too fast, striking for a takedown a minute into the match and then worked Nazarchuk to his back to get the pin at the 2:11 mark.
The Bronchos also got technical falls from 133 Jason Henschel, 141 Josh Taylor and 165 Brady Benham, while 184 Branson Britten added a major decision. Eli Kirk (125), Jaxon Koeltzow (149) and Garrett Wells (197) also won.
“It was a good way to end the first half of the season,” head coach Todd Steidley said. “I thought our guys wrestled hard and we found a way to win a couple of tough ones.
“We’re ready for a break. It will be good for us to get rested up and healed up so we can come back next week ready to get back to work. I’m happy with the progress we’ve made to this point, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
Henschel stayed perfect (6-0) on the season with a textbook 15-0 technical fall. The top-ranked senior scored an early takedown, then added a trio of four-point near-falls to end the match before the first period ended.
Taylor turned a takedown into a three-point near-fall for a 5-0 lead just 20 seconds into his bout and added four more takedowns in a 19-4 rout. Benham had an impressive varsity debut for the Bronchos, racking up five takedowns and a reverse in an 18-3 shellacking.
Britten won his ninth straight in recording UCO’s final bonus win. The senior had two takedowns and nearly five minutes riding time in a 10-0 shutout, stretching his streak of not allowing an offensive point to eight consecutive matches.
Kirk made his season debut and used a third-period comeback to pull out a 9-4 victory. The sophomore tailed 4-1 in the final period, but tied it on a takedown with 40 seconds left and added a four-point near-fall soon after before tacking on a riding time point.
Koeltzow scored a takedown with 13 seconds left in the first period, escaped early in the second period and then rode Caleb Carter the entire third stanza for a riding time point in a 5-0 shutout.
Wells had UCO’s most dramatic victory. Jeremiah Larson took the two-time All-American down with 45 seconds left to take a 4-1 lead, but Wells quickly escaped to make it 4-2 and shot in for a takedown that wasn’t awarded until five seconds were left.
The Saints challenged the call, which was upheld by the official after a video review. Wells added a riding time point to make it a 6-4 win.
Hayze Ivey and Tucker Waitman both came close in their losses.
Ivey dropped a 6-4 decision on a takedown just before the final buzzer, while Waitman’s last-second tying takedown try fell short in a tough 7-4 loss to defending national champion Cole Ritter.
The Bronchos will take a week off before returning to practice and don’t compete again until going to Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 9-10 for the NWCA Division II National Duals.
UCO 34, Maryville 6
125 – Eli Kirk, UCO, dec. Elijah Almarinez, 7-4.
133 – Jason Henschel, UCO, technical fall Yashua Amen, 15-0 (2:56).
141 – Josh Taylor, UCO, technical fall JP Homfeld, 19-4 (6:20).
149 – Jaxon Koeltzow, UCO, dec. Caleb Carter, 5-0.
157 – Nic Zamora, MU, dec. Hayze Ivey, 6-4.
165 – Brady Benham, UCO, technical fall Javier Gutierrez, 18-3 (6:21).
174 – Cole Ritter, MU, dec. Tucker Waitman, 7-4.
184 – Branson Britten, UCO, major dec. John Gholson, 10-0.
197 – Garrett Wells, UCO, dec. Jeremiah Larson, 6-4.
Hvy – Ryan Nichols, UCO, pinned Orest Nazarchuk, 2:11.
