[Men's Wrestling] Linton, Hudiburgh Place at Simpson Meet

Doane Wrestling competed at the Luther Hill Invite hosted by Simpson (Iowa) on Saturday. Tiger wrestlers picked up 12 wins on the day with two placing in the Top 4 of their weight class.

Zach Linton (JR/Winters, Calif.) was the individual champion in the 184-division. He went 4-0 on the day to win the title. He opened with a win over Jonathon Juarez of Graceland (Iowa) by pin (2:26). In the Quarterfinal round, Linton won 12-3 over Solomon Nielsen of Augsburg (Minn.) for a major decision.

In the Semifinals, Linton needed only 52 seconds to dispatch of Grand View's (Iowa) Ben Lee. In the Championship, the Tigers' No. 1-ranked NAIA wrestler took on the No. 5-ranked wrestler in Baker's (Kan.) Jacob Smith. The two went the distance but it was Linton who came out on top with a 4-0 decision.

Craig Hudiburgh (SR/Aurora, Neb.) posted a 4th Place finish at 197 as he went 2-2 on the day. He opened with a win over Central Missouri's Ben Lancaster by pin (3:21). In the Quarterfinals, Hudiburgh picked up another pin as he defeated Iowa Western's Chancellor Jones in 1:04. He dropped his Semifinal match by tech fall to Augsburg's NCAA D3 No. 7-ranked Lance Benick and the third place match by pin to Augsburg's Wyatt Richardson.

Kyrie Williams (FR/Boston, Mass.) picked up his first two collegiate wins as he went 2-2 on the day. All four of his matches on the day were decided by pin fall. He dropped his opening match to Augsburg's Ryan Epps. He defeated Chris Wheeler of Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) in 5:31 and Joshua Strauss of Benedictine (Kan.) in 1:00. He ended his day against Tyler Price of Baker.

Jake Smith (SR/Lincoln, Neb.) posted two wins at 285 on the day and also went 2-2. After dropping his opening match to Shawn Beeson of Graceland, he posted a pair of wins by pin. He needed 42 seconds to defeat Jon Hamilton of Iowa Western and 3:34 to defeat AJ Maloy of Upper Iowa. He dropped his last match, 3-1, to Demetrius Crisanto of MacMurray (Ill.).

Kalen Roth (FR/Walton, Neb.) posted a win at 149 as he defeated Quentin Crayne of MacMurray in his opening match. He went 1-2 on the day, dropping his last two matches by major decision.

Gage Herron (SO/Bonner Springs, Kan.) won his opening match, 4-1, over Conner Greig of Baker. He dropped his next match by pin and bowed out with a medical forfeit to go 1-2 on the day.

Doane will travel to Northwestern (Iowa) to take on the Red Raiders in conference action on Wednesday, December 5, at 6 PM in Orange City, Iowa.