IOWA FALLS, Iowa -- A rough day turned into a good day for the Minnesota West Bluejays wrestling team Sunday.
Despite only having one wrestler finish above .500 on the day (Dallas Mitchell, 2-1, at 184 pounds), five Bluejays qualified for the NJCAA meet during the district tournament.
Josh Butros (1-2, 133 pounds) Josh Sullivan (1-2, 141 pounds), Derrick Pomranky (0-3, 165 pounds) and T.J. Scheidecker (0-1, 197 pounds) all earned spots in the national tournament Feb. 24-25 in Rochester. Sullivan and Pomranky earned wild card spots because they advanced to the NJCAAs last year, while Scheidecker earned a medical default due to his injured knee.
The results went above what Minnesota West head coach Bob Purcell expected entering the day.
"I thought we might have two kids go to nationals," Purcell said. "We ended up with five, so I'm pretty happy."
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Mitchell was wrestling at about 80 percent as he qualified for the national tournament, but it didn't stop the defending national champion from grabbing two victories on the day.
Josh Butros was expected to have a rough go of it during Sunday's meet, but he was a pleasant surprise for Purcell, taking fourth place in his weight class to advance.
Purcell expects to take it easy for the next few days with his wrestlers who have qualified for the nationals, giving them more of a chance to heal up for the trip to Rochester.
"We're going to sit and not have them do much of anything, and rest the injuries, see if we can get them healthy," he said.
Minnesota West, as a team, finished in sixth place with 64.5 points. No teams advance to the nationals, which is an individual-only competition.
Team scores
1. Iowa Central, 176.5 points; 2. Ellsworth, 134.5; 3. Ridgewater, 126.5; 4. Itasca, 97.5; 5. Rochester, 88.5; 6. Minnesota West, 64.5; 7. Dakota County, 30.5.
Minnesota West results
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125 pounds: Jacob Butros: 1-2, fifth place (did not reach nationals)
133: Josh Butros, 1-2, fourth (qualified for nationals)
141: Josh Sullivan, 1-2, fifth place (qualified for nationals)
165: Derrick Pomranky 0-3, sixth (qualified for nationals on wild card)
174: Matt Gabel, 0-3, seventh place (did not reach nationals)
184: Dallas Mitchell, 2-1, second (qualified for nationals)
197: T.J. Scheidecker, 0-1, sixth place (medical default; earned wild card into nationals)
285: Reis Park, 0-3, sixth place (did not reach nationals)
