Lubner places second, Wrestling competes at Luther Open

DECORAH, Iowa – Marcus Lubner continued his earlier season success by placing second at the Luther Open on Saturday. Concordia University Wisconsin also had Sean Ambrocio and Greg Sanders each placed at the difficult tournament, which featured NCAA Division II and III programs.

Lubner (senior, Fredonia, Wis.) won his opening bout by major decision, 12-4, over Ben Rosen (Cornell College) before defeating Corey Meyer (UW-Whitewater) 9-4 and Evan Obert (Luther College) 8-6, who is ranked ninth nationally. He then faced Alphonso Vruno (Minnesota State Mankato) but couldn't continue his success and fell by major decision, 14-6, to earn second place in the 133-pound bracket.

"We competed well as a team against some top level Division II and III wrestlers today," head coach Corey VanGroll said. "We also found out that we have some work to do to get better. Some of the close bouts we lost were because of little things, which can be fixed."

Ambrocio (sophomore, San Antonio, Texas) downed Nick Scheffert (Luther College) 8-1 before defeating Tanner Schmidt (Upper Iowa College) 7-2. He then lost a major decision bout, 14-3, to David Demo (Minnesota State Mankato) and a 9-3 decision to Trevor Pruett (UW-Whitewater). In the sixth place bout Schmidt defeated Ambrocio again.

Sanders (sophomore, San Antonio, Texas) received a bye in the first round before winning by fall (2:04) over Spencer Garness (Luther College). He then defeated Dylan Shaffer (UW-La Crosse) 5-3, but dropped a 6-5 decision to Brandon Welter (Wartburg College) in the following round who is ranked sixth nationally. Sanders dropped a 6-5 decision to Thomas Allen (Minnesota State Mankato) prior to defeating Shaffer again, this time by fall (5:00) to claim fifth place.

Junior Leonard Kuspa (Oak Forest, Ill.) ended the day with a pair of wins, including a win by fall (6:13) over Wade Gobin (Upper Iowa College). He also defeated Eric Moreno (Luther College) by a 9-2 decision.

Sophomore Jake Reuteler (New Berlin, Wis.) lost in the opening round, but came back to win back-to-back bouts. He pinned Matthew Leveille (Dubuque College) in 33 seconds and pinned Nick Pearch (Luther College) in three minutes and 24 seconds.

CUW returns to the mat on Friday with a dual match against Triton College at 6 p.m. inside the R. John Buuck Field House.