PELLA – NIACC’s Noah Jackson placed second in the gold division at 157 pounds at the Central College Under Armour Invitational Saturday at the Kuyper Fieldhouse.
Also for the Trojans, Ryan Faught placed third in the gold division at 165 pounds.
The Trojans, who were in action for the first time since Dec. 6, placed sixth in the team standings with 33.5 points. Host Central College was the team champion with 122.5 points and Morningside was second with 85 points.
Jackson, who is ranked third in the Intermat’s NJCAA Division I rankings at 157, dropped a 12-5 decision to Morningside’s Kyle Fowler in the 157-pound title match.
Jackson (8-4) picked up decisions over Hannibal-LaGrange’s Tramel Harrel (10-5) in his opening-round match. Jackson stopped Graceland’s Drew Sams 7-3 in the quarterfinals and stopped Briar Cliff’s Zach Davis 5-3 in the semifinals.
Faught dropped a 5-4 decision to Graceland’s Dylan Brazell in a 165-pound quarterfinal match.
Faught (8-4) won three straight matches in the consolation bracket and avenged his loss to Brazell with a 5-3 overtime win over the Graceland wrestler in the third-place match.
Also in the gold division for the Trojans, Robert Rodriguez was 3-2 at 149 pounds and did not place. Sedrak Sheppard was also 3-2 at 197 pounds and did not place.
In the silver division, NIACC’s Chris Briscoe placed fourth at 184 pounds by going 2-2 in his first action of the season.
No. 12 NIACC (0-4 in duals) returns to action Wednesday in a dual meet at No. 7 RCTC. The meet is slated to start at 7 p.m.
