Guzman Earns Bid to Championship as Phoenix Wrestle on Day Two

WICHITA, Kan. - - Victor Guzman leads the way for the Phoenix as the graduate student wrestled his way into the championship, while Shires and Dinh both continued to wrestle during day two.

Guzman came into the day with No. 4 Elvis Solis of Life University in front of him and the five seed took care of him, winning a 12-6 decision. Guzman was able to get ahead early with two takedowns in the first period and despite the 4-1 second period from Solis, the Rock Island, Illinois product saw his way into the semifinals with a 5-1 final period.

Following that showing, Victor only got better as he squared off with No. 8 Carlos Stanton of Arizona Christian. In a dominant showing, Guzman only allowed a single point from his opponent, that lone point coming from an escape in the first period. A 5-0 shutout in the second period, alongside riding time, saw Guzman into the championship match where he will face No. 2 Elijiah Larsen of Grand View.

Third-seed Sammy Shires took on No. 11 Yoshiya Funakoshi of Embry-Riddle and dropped the back and forth quarterfinal match, 9-8. Shires nabbed an early takedown but was matched by his opponent, making the score an even 4-4 after one period. Shires scored the lone point in the second period but in the decisive third, Funakoshi took Shires down with ten seconds left, to go ahead 5-3 in the block and 9-8 overall.

Shires then dropped down into the consolation bracket and won a pair of matches to put himself in the seventh place match tomorrow. First, the redshirt junior took an 11-6 decision over No. 16 Drew Jones but would then fall just short to the No. 2 seed, Caden McCrary. He now sets himself up to square off with the No. 14 seed out of Evangel, Horacio Godinez.

The Phoenix have a chance for redemption against Godinez, as the 141-pounder is the same person who ended Jared Dinh's tournament with a tech fall decision. Godinez, out of Evergeen, got out ahead of Dinh in the second period and sealed the deal with a strong third.

At the conclusion of day two, Cumberland climbed into 13th place with a total of 30.5 points. Grand View has expanded their lead at the top as they have amassed 163.5 total points, followed by Life with 134 and Oklahoma City with 86.5.

First session begins at 11:00 AM which will be all consolations and placing matches, and then the Final session will be at 7:00 PM for the National Finals.

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Players Mentioned

Jared Dinh: 5' 7"; Senior

Victor Guzman: 5' 8"; Graduate Student

Sammy Shires: 5' 7"; Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

Jared Dinh
: 5' 7"; Senior

Victor Guzman
: 5' 8"; Graduate Student

Sammy Shires
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Junior