Harper sends eight wrestlers to national meet

Posted February 24, 2016 12:00 am

By Jonathan Cregier

Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is the host school for this weekend's NJCAA wrestling championships at the Mid-American Center.

Eight members of the 14th-ranked Harper College wrestling team will get an opportunity to compete for championships Friday and Saturday.

The Hawks finished second in the the Midwest District Championships they hosted at the Wellness and Sports Center on the Harper campus in Palatine two weeks ago. Fifth-ranked Muskegon Community College won the team event.

Zach McCullough (133 pounds), Jimmy Knapp (141), Cory Pych (ranked sixth nationally at 149 pounds) and Cody Barnes (197) each captured individual regional championships in their weight classes, automatically qualifying them for the trip to nationals. Knapp also earned tournament MVP honors.

Tamchybai Turusbekov (174), a native of Kyrgyzstan, and Kameran Hardwick (285, Lake Park) both competed in championship matches at regionals to earn themselves a spot at nationals, and Ian Mullen (125 pounds) and John Makey (ranked sixth at 165 pounds) advanced with wild-card berths.

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