Vlieger wins 285-pound title, leads Storm at Central
PELLA, Iowa — Colby Vlieger won the first tournament championship of his collegiate career to highlight three placewinners and two finalists for the Simpson wrestling team at the Central Under Armour Invitational on Saturday.
Vlieger went 4-0 to win the 285-pound bracket for the Storm, who were competing for the first time in 2017. Noah Robinson lost in the finals to take second at 184 pounds and RJ Brown lost in the consolation finals to take fourth at 174.
Jake Mize went 3-2 at 165 and Zach Johnston (141) and Sam Mathis (197) each went 2-2 as the Storm shook off the rust in their first action in three weeks.
Vlieger picked up two pins en-route to the championship, including one over North Iowa Area CC's Jimsher Sidhu in the finals. He pinned William Penn's Max Lewis in his first match, then earned a pair of decisions to get to the finals. He earned a narrow 1-0 decision over Chris Murino in his third match.
Robinson earned three straight decisions to start the day to get into the finals. He beat Cullin Brendeland 3-2 in the semifinals before dropping a narrow 3-1 decision in the championship against Morningside's Logan Moore.
Brown won his first two matches of the day, pinning Truman's Shane Gallagher in his first match. After a close 2-0 loss to Central's Zach Moss in the semifinals, he responded with a 2-0 win over Davenport's Chris Cooper. He lost to Morningside's Derik Bailey 7-2 in the consolation final.
Mize started the day strong at 165 pounds, winning his first three matches before losing an 8-5 decision to North Iowa Area CC's Tucker Black. His day ended with a medical forfeit.
UP NEXT
Simpson travels to Dubuque for an Iowa Conference dual on Tuesday. Start time is set for 7 p.m.
TOURNAMENT REPORT
125—Jacob Irwin: 1-2
141—Zach Johnston: 2-2 (MFOR in final match)
165—Jake Mize: 3-2 (started 3-0, MFOR in cons. semi)
174—Bailey Chyma: 1-2
174—RJ Brown: 3-2, 4th place
184—Noah Robinson: 3-1, 2nd place
197—Sam Mathis: 2-2
197—Damon Piatt: 0-2
285—Colby Vlieger: 4-0, 1st place
