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Former Cowboys help Grand View to early lead

PARK CITY, Kan. — The top-ranked Grand View wrestling team is well on their way to a ninth consecutive NAIA Championship.

The Vikings lead after the first day of action here inside Hartman Arena with 113 points. Reinhardt is a distant second with 57.5 followed by Cumberlands, Menlo and Baker.

Former Clarion-Goldfield/Dows’ standouts Justin Portillo and Tanner Abbas advanced to the semifinals along with seven of their Grand View teammates.

Portillo, a returning All-American, earned a pair of decisions at 125 pounds. He topped Jacob Mendoza of Menlo, 1-0, and followed with a 5-1 decision over Cagen Wallace of Lindsey Wilson.

Up next for Portillo, the top-seed, will be will be No. 4 Alexande Nunes of Life Pacific.

Abbas, a redshirt freshman, pinned Devin Wilhelm from West Virginia Tech in the first round in 4:09 and followed that up with a 6-4 decision over Chasen Brown from Cumberlands. He advanced to the final four at 149 with a 4-1 victory over Jalen Soto from Southeastern.

In the semis for Abbas will be Denver Stonecheck from Life. Abbas is the third-seed and Stonecheck the No. 10.

Kendon Lee, Dalton Jensen, Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer, Kyle Caldwell, Giovanni Bonilla, Kendrick Jones and Evan Hansen are all alive in the semifinals for the Vikings.

Shea Ruffridge, a redshirt freshman, suffered a pair of tough sudden victory and ultimate tiebreaker losses after reaching the quarterfinals.

Ruffridge started out with a 10-1 major decision over Anthony Vargas from Life Pacific at 133 pounds, following that up with a 5-1 win over Matt Gimson from Indiana Tech.

In the round of eight, he fell to Sean Deshazer from Life, and was knocked out by Conner Gimson from Indiana Tech, 5-4.

Former Fort Dodge Senior High standout Jonah Egli had his tourney run come to an end. Egli, competing at 174 pounds for Morningside, won his first round match via fall over Cameron Butler of Lindsey Wilson in 5:28.

Egli, though, dropped an 8-2 decision to Embry-Riddle’s Daniel Butler in the second round and was topped by William Seibert of Missouri Valley in the consolation second round, 12-6.

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