NIACC's Anderly moves to finals

COUNCIL BLUFFS - For the fifth straight season, the NIACC wrestling team will be represented in Saturday night's finals at the NJCAA national wrestling tournament.

NIACC sophomore Austin Anderly moved to the finals at 141 pounds with a narrow 7-6 victory over Triton's Tyree Johnson in Saturday morning's semifinals. Anderly entered the tournament ranked third and Johnson was fourth.

Anderly (13-2) used a third-period escape to punch his ticket to the championship round.

Anderly will face Lincoln's Christian Kanzler in the title bout. Kanzler beat Iowa Central's Eric Clarke 7-3 in his semifinal contest. NIACC's last 141-pounder to reach the finals was Jake Marlin in 2015 when he placed second.

On Friday night, Anderly stopped Northeast Oklahoma's top-ranked Cody Karstetter 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

Anderly earned all-American honors with a fifth-place finish at 141 pounds during his freshman campaign.

Last season, NIACC's Mario Pena placed second at 285 pounds.

In the 2016 season, NIACC's Shiquan Hall claimed the 133-pound national title.

NIACC's Nosomy Pozo (149) and Yoanse Mejias (157) both claimed back-to-back national titles in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

In the consolation round Saturday morning, NIACC's Noah Jackson (13-10) was pinned by North Idaho's Thomas Stevenson in 5 minutes, 12 seconds.

Jackson will wrestle for seventh place Saturday afternoon. Jackson faces Tate Allison of Northwest Wyoming.

At 285 pounds, NIACC's Jimsher Sidhu (14-8) was disqualified in his 285-pound consolation match Saturday morning against Clackamas' Darryl Aiello.

Notes - Anderly has a career record of 27-9 with 5 falls, 1 tech. fall and 8 major decisions ... Anderly is 13-2 in the 2017-18 season with 3 falls and 4 major decisions.