Wildcats Deliver Exciting 22-18 Victory over Central Methodist in Senior Night Dual

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker men's wrestling came out on top in two of the final three matches to take down Central Methodist, 22-18 in a thrilling Senior Night win for the Wildcats on Wednesday night in the Collins Center.

Prior to the match, the Wildcats recognized six seniors for their contributions to the BU men's wrestling program. These seniors included, Brett Bober, Joey Hancock, Malachi Karibo, Dallas Koelzer, Christian Nishi-Rivera and Ben Stubblefield.

The Wildcats wrestled to five wins against the Eagles with pins by Nishi-Rivera and Bober boosting BU to edge past their conference foe.

Nishi-Rivera opened the dual with a pin in the 133-pound match, while Koelzer (149) and Jakob Stovall (157) added back-to-back wins to give Baker an early 12-3 lead. Stovall's win came in sudden death and against the NAIA's 15th-ranked wrestler to give the Spring Hill, Kan. native an exciting victory in front of the home crowd.

With things in a deadlock at 12-12 heading into the final three bouts, Bober's pin in the 184-pound match gave the Wildcats a huge lift. Then, Karibo came through with the game-winner with a 14-1 major decision victory at 197 pounds as BU went on to win the dual, 22-18.

Baker moves to a 4-2 record against Heart of America teams with wins over William Penn, Benedictine and Waldorf going along with yesterday's day win against the Eagles.

Up next, the Wildcats will host their second home conference dual of the week with Graceland coming to town on Saturday, Jan. 27. The dual is set to start at 1 p.m. inside the Collins Center in Baldwin City.

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