Wrestling Advances Three to Quarters in NAIA Championship Opening Session

DES MOINES, IOWA—Three of Southeastern’s seven NAIA National Championship qualifiers remain unbeaten through the first session at the Jacobson Exhibition Center.
Olson Delisca racked up 29 points in his first two matches of the day, scoring a pair of major decision victories. The junior from Miami defeated Morningside’s Devon Phaly 9-0 to advance to the round of 16. Against Eastern Oregon’s Mhar Cabella, the match was tied at eight starting the third period, after seventh-ranked Cabella recorded a reverse plus back points to rally back.
In the third period, fifth-ranked Delisca went to work, scoring 12 points to come away with a 20-8 major decision victory, and will face ninth-ranked Justin Portillo of Grand View in tonight’s championship quarterfinal round.
Wrestling in his hometown, Jake Watters picked up a hard-fought 2-0 win over Nathan Ryan of Briar Cliff, then scored a 3-1 decision over Jayce Carr of Campbellsville, ranked 10th in the nation.
Watters will face fifth-ranked Matt Weber of Montana State-Northern in his quarterfinal bout.
At 165, Angel del Cueto was a 14-3 major decision winner over Mason Gaines of Indiana Tech, then came away with a 4-1 decision over No. 11 Tristan Macri to advance to the quarterfinal round, where he will face No. 3 Diorian Coleman of Lindsey Wilson.
In the consolation rounds, Ethan Owen picked up a pair of wins by fall in the first period over Randy McCary of Allen and Brandon Vela of Bacone.
Dylan Chatterton won his first match in the championship round with a second period win by fall over No. 13 Mason Miller of Grand View, but dropped to the consolation bracket after a loss to No. 5 Nick Drendel of William Baptist. Chatterton improved to 2-1 on the day with a 12-10 decision over No. 17 Wyatt Gerl of Hastings.
Chris Williams picked up a win in the championship bracket, defeating Reinhardt’s Antonio Stewart 8-1, then dropped to the consolation bracket with a 5-0 loss to No. 12 Tyler Noon of Menlo. He faced eighth-ranked Hunter Smith in the consolation bracket, and dropped a 6-2 decision to bow out of the tournament.
Matt Cates went 0-2 with a loss by decision and loss by major decision.
The second session will start with championship quarterfinal bouts at 6 p.m. Central Time.