Vikings finish fourth in NAIA, seven medal

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Missouri Valley College men's wrestling team wound up with seven all-Americans to place fourth Saturday at the NAIA Championships in Oklahoma City.

Two Vikings reached the finals, but neither was able to nab a title. Top-ranked senior Joe Cornejo (157 pounds), who had won two of his four previous bouts by fall, was put on his back during the first period and couldn't make up the ground during a 5-2 loss to Lindenwood junior Jeremy Powell.

Defending national champion Matt Cauley, a Lindenwood senior who would be named the meet's "outstanding wrestler," pinned sophomore Alex McKinney (174) of Marshall with 10 seconds remaining in the first period.

McKinney, who captured a silver medal at the Missouri state finals in 2006 as an Owls senior, had battled to the finals with three close decisions following a first-round technical fall.

Valley had two other grapplers reach the semifinal round before taking their first losses. Junior Brian Graham (149) was beaten by LU junior Sam Schmitz, 8-4 -- in the process injuring a knee. He wasn't able to recover from that blow and lost both his wrestleback matches to wind up in sixth place.

Junior Chad Williams (184) dropped a 6-4 semifinal decision to freshman Evan Hinebauch of Montana State-Northern, but pinned Campbellsville (Ky.) freshman Spencer Adams in the consolation semifinal before losing a 7-2 decision in the fifth-place match against Great Falls (Mont.) sophomore Michael French.

The Vikings had three entries in seventh-place matches, with junior Ryan Sutton (197) getting the only win with a 7-2 decision over Northwestern (Iowa) freshman Nic Leither.

Junior Brad Perkins (157) was nipped 1-0 by Great Falls sophomore Ross Mosher and sophomore heavyweight Travis Ewart had to withdraw from his bout with McKendree (Ill.) junior Cedric Powell when a collision of heads produced a deep cut on the bridge of his nose.

Senior Billy Exline (125), a former all-American, was unable to reach the medal round -- getting only two of the three back-side wins he needed.

Junior Brian Graham (141) was stopped in the quarterfinal round and was eliminated in his first wrestleback outing. Freshman Paulie Hansen (125) split four matches, senior Jon Gerhold (133) won only his opening bout and sophomore Charlie Gibbs (184) of Moberly went two-and-out.

With only five wrestlers in the championship bracket after the first day, fewer than any of the top six teams, it was unlikely then that Valley would be able to claim its fourth title. However, its seven medalists allowed the Vikings to accumulate 109.5 points for a comfortable fourth place and equaled that of runner-up Southern Oregon (125.5) and third-place McKendree (123).

Lindenwood, coached by former Valley assistant Joe Parisi, rolled to its fourth championship in five years with 167 points -- putting five wrestlers into the finals, three claiming gold medals.