NIACC's Aguilar, Carlos move to semifinals
COUNCIL BLUFFS - The NIACC men's wrestling team will have two representatives in the NJCAA national semifinals Saturday morning.
NIACC sophomores Cruz Aguilar (125) and Ein Carlos (184) both picked up quarterfinal round wins Friday night at the Mid-America Center.
The sixth-ranked Aguilar (17-5) stopped Otero's fifth-ranked Isaiah Gomez 9-7 with a takedown in the final seconds to punch his ticket to Saturday morning's semifinals.
Aguilar had advanced to the quarterfinals with a pair of wins in the first session on Friday. Aguilar topped Western Wyoming's Bridger Ricks 7-4 and took a 11-4 decision from Indian Hills' Riley Bettich.
Aguilar faces Northwest Kansas Tech's second-ranked Jett Strickenberger in the 125-pound semifinals Saturday morning.
The eighth-ranked Carlos (9-3) blanked RCTC's unranked Anthony Tuttle 6-0 in his quarterfinal round contest Friday. Carlos is guaranteed to be a two-time all-American as he placed fifth in 2022 at 174 pounds.
Earlier Friday, Carlos took an 11-0 major decision from North Idaho's Travis Waldner and he stuck Triton's Jeivan Ross in 1 minute, 57 seconds.
Carlos takes on Western Wyoming's second-ranked Darion Johnson in the 184-pound semifinals Saturday morning.
In the 197-pound quarterfinals, NIACC's Drew Fox (8-6) dropped a 3-0 decision to Iowa Central's ninth-ranked John Lovett.
Southwest Virginia's Austin Suess topped Fox 7-0 in an elimination bout at 197 pounds. Fox (8-7) had moved to the championship round quarterfinals with a pair of wins in the first sessio on Friday.
NIACC's Isaac Church picked up a 8-4 win over Labette's seventh-ranked Jazen Brown. Church was eliminated from the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Western Wyoming's Joseph Mecham.
