Wrestling Competes at Gopher Duals

Saturday, November 7

Minneapolis, Minn.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Minnesota

11/7/2015 8:27:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Steven Gonzalez

MINNEAPOLIS – GCU wrestling continued its road trip to begin the 2015-16 season for its toughest weekend thus far this yearat the Gopher Duals. Against No. 17 Minnesota, Virginia and South Dakota State, the Antelopes went 0-3 with five individual victories.

Against the 17^th best team in the country, the Lopes were able to battle against the Gophers to start the tournament. The Lopes fell to UM 31-3 in their first loss of the season. GCU's only points of the match came in the 149-pound match as Blake Monty defeated Tommy Thorn, giving the Lopes their first win of the day. Monty was able to pull out the 8-3 victory against Thorn, earning his second straight victory to start the season.

In the second team match of the day, GCU faced South Dakota State in a 25-9 battle. Grand Canyon started the match with a win from Trayton Libolt in his first match of the season. Facing Anthony Cefolo, Libolt was impressive in his season debut pulling out the 7-2 victory at 125 pounds, giving GCU the 3-0 lead. After dropping the next two matches, Monty got his second win of the day at 149 pounds, defeating SDSU's Alex Kocer. Monty would tie the team score at 6-6 after taking down Kocer 6-4 for his third win this season. South Dakota State went on a run with five straight wins before Daniel Chaid got GCU's last win on the final match. In the heavyweight matchup, Chaid defeated Alex Macki 7-2 for his first win of the season.

In the final team contest of the day, GCU faced Virginia, which received 27 votes, nearly earning a top-25 ranking. The Lopes picked up one win against the Cavaliers and it was in the final match between UVA's Ethan Hayes and GCU's Chaid. In a tight 3-1 victory, Chaid earned his second straight victory to close out the Gopher Duals.

The Lopes now return to Phoenix for their first home match of the season on Thursday, Nov. 12, against Northern Colorado. The match will begin at 8 p.m. at GCU Arena.