Tommy Pickens Becomes 5th National Qualifier

Tommy Pickens joins Kasey Cates, Josh Smith, Jobi Hambrick, and Nathan Downs as the 5th National Qualifier for HLG this season. Pickens Finished in fifth place at the University of Dubuque's Jim Fox Open last Saturday. The Jim Fox Open had wrestlers from all NCAA divisions wrestling. Jobi Hambrick and Nathan Down's both defeated solid opponents, however, only Hambrick was able to place 4th in the tournament. Curt Trimmell wrestled his best tournament of the season and finished in 3rd place. Trimmell finished higher than any other Trojan wrestler on the day. I predicted in an earlier post this year that we had the potential of having 5 or 6 wrestlers qualify for the National Tournament this season. I'm proud to report that our wrestlers have proven me correct! I wonder who will be the sixth to qualify?

Trojan Wrestlers Receive Ranking

Three Trojan wrestlers receive regional ratings in the NAIA. Kasey Cates, Josh Smith, and Nathan Downs all received their ratings in the Central Group Rating. Both Cates (141 lbs) and Smith ((149) are ranked in sixth place for their weight classes and Downs (174 lbs) is currently ranked 4th. Downs is also ranked 12th in the NAIA national rating.

Nathan Downs


















Josh Smith




















Kasey Cates

Trojan Wrestlers Bring Home the Gold

Kasey Cates (1st picture) and Jobi Hambrick (2nd picture) came home from Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Invitational wrestling tournament with the best tournament finishes of any other Trojan wrestlers in a single tournament. Cates who injured his knee in practice a few months ago has been fighting through the nagging pain in his knee through the last couple of weeks. His toughness has paid off with a 141 lb Championship. Cates started the tournament as the 5th seed. In the first round Cates had a major decision over Ricardo Rosas (Lakeland College). In the second round Cates defeated the 4th seeded Andy Casper (UW-Platteville) 12-10. Cates defeated Kaleb Stephens (UW-Oshkosh) in the semi-finals and then defeated the 3rd seeded Eric Wilkerson (Central College) 8-7 in the finals. Cates was the first HLG wrestler to be a College Varsity Tournament Champion. Jobi Hambrick joined Cates to be the second wrestler to be a College Varsity Tournament Champion. Hambrick’s began as the number 2 seed winning his first match by fall over Alec Hakes (UW-Oshkosh). Hambrick won his second match with a come from behind victory over fellow Missourian Aaron Bergen (Concordia University, WI). In the semi-finals Hambrick was challenged by Wheaton College’s Justin Tomal. Tomal was narrowly defeated by Hambrick in double overtime the last time they met. Hambrick once again was victorious over Tomal winning by a takedown in overtime winning the match 3-1. In the finals Hambrick wrestled Central Colleges Ivan Gaeta. Gaeta had victories over the 4th and 5th seed wrestlers and received a free pass to the finals as the 1st seeded wrestler injury defaulted to him in the semi-finals. Gaeta lost to Hambrick by the score of 3-2. Hambrick’s 1st place finish places him in the lead with the most tournament place finishes with 4 tournaments placing in the top 5 and he also has a 22-6 record this far into the season. Tommy Pickens, Curt Trimmell and Shane Brandl all won matches for the Trojans. HLG had two other national qualifiers who could have been in the finals, however, due to injuries they were unable to compete in the tournament. There are only two more dates of competition left in the semester. HLG will be wrestling against Truman State University this Thursday night. December 18th HLG will travel back to Dubuque, Iowa for the University of Dubuque Open.