Trappers begin season at homeReturning NJCAA national runner-up Landon Harris cruised to the title at 285 pounds and six other Trapper wrestlers found their way into the top four on Saturday at the NWC Open in Cabre Gym. The tournament was the first of the 2009-2010 college wrestling season for the Trappers. “Overall, I felt we wrestled fairly well,” said Trapper wrestling coach Jim Zeigler. “I'm extremely pleased with Landon starting out in stride. He came out and showed that he's ready for the year.”

Harris needed barely four minutes combined to win his quarterfinal and semifinal matches by fall. In the championship match, he controlled unattached wrestler Patrick Carey for a 3-0 victory.

Harris wasn't the only Trapper heavyweight to place among the top four. Northwest wrestlers Jonathan Tiernan and Sergio Pedroza advanced to face each other in the consolation match with Tiernan taking a 6-5 decision to score third-place honors.

The Trappers' only other finalist on Saturday came at the opposite end of the spectrum. Jesse Hillhouse, a 125-pound freshman out of Casper, cruised through his first four matches, including wins by fall, technical fall and major decision, to face Tyler Cox, a University of Wyoming wrestler competing unattached in the finals. Cox was able to claim the 125-pound championship with a 3-1 decision over Hillhouse.

“Jesse really did some impressive things,” said Zeigler. “His semifinal match against (Akmal) Adilov from the University of Great Falls really stood out. Adilov is a kid that's in his fourth year. He's defeated a national runner-up that we had previously, so I'm very familiar with the types of things he does on the mat. For Jesse to go out as a freshman and dominate that match 8-0 is very impressive.”

Mak Jones earned a third-place finish at 197 pounds after scoring a major decision win over Wyoming Cowboy Joe O'Farrell in the consolation finals. Jones' only loss on the day came 4-2 in the semifinals against returning NAIA All-American Alex Calvi of the University of Great Falls.

Briston Brenton added a fourth-place finish for the Trappers at 157 pounds. Jarrett Baker added a fourth-place finish at 184 pounds, knocking out teammate David Dorsett in the consolation semifinals.

Freshman Zach Oppenheimer had reached the semifinals of the 165-pound bracket before being forced to default due to injury and miss placing in the final four.

“Nick Petersen did well for a freshman even though he didn't place,” said Zeigler. “He had an impressive match against the NAIA national runner-up at 174. He was able to take him to the wire and score some offensive points.”

Petersen's other match came by one point against a wrestler from NCAA Division I Utah Valley University.

“There were times our inexperience showed on the mat,” Zeigler said of the Trappers' weekend performance. “That's part of what this tournament is for, though. One of our goals for this event is to introduce our younger kids to what it takes to compete and be successful at college wrestling.”

The Trappers return to action on Friday when Northwest College travels to Laramie to dual the University of Wyoming. Action begins at 5 p.m. in the multipurpose gym on the UW campus. The Trappers will also compete Saturday in the UW Open tournament.