This past Saturday the Rochester Community and Technical College Yellowjackets kicked off their season by hosting the Yellowjacket Open. The tournament continues to grow each year, and this year had nearly 250 wrestlers from NCAA II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA schools.
The Yellowjackets placed eight wrestlers in the top six of the tournament, which included two Champions: Alex Lloyd (Shakopee, MN), 157, and Richie Hammonds (Anoka, MN) wrestling “Unattached” at 197.
Alex Lloyd currently ranked #6 in the NJCAA went 5-0 on the day. In the first round, Lloyd majored Nolan Miller-Johnston of Iowa Central 16-6. He then picked up a fall over Adam Rients of UW-Eau Clarie in 2:39. In his third match, Alex won a 6-4 decision over Ryan Steffen of Upper Iowa. In the semis he defeated Blake Pomajzl of Northwestern by injury default. In the finals, Alex won by fall in 5:27 over former RCTC teammate Tyler Zeman who is currently wrestling for Triton Community College and ranked #7 in the NJCAA.
Richie Hammonds won his championship gong 4-0 on the day. Hammonds had a first-round bye before pinning Corwin Deetz of UW-Eau Claire in 2:25. He then won by fall over Sean Kelly of Triton in 3:55. In the semi-finals, Richie turned in a dominant 21-8 major decision over Dylan Butts of Mankato. In the finals Hammonds took down #5 NJCAA ranked Demarco Lee of Harper.
“We are extremely excited about how the guys wrestled this past weekend. Their effort on the mat level of conditioning was exceptional,” said coach Randy Rager.
2019 Yellowjacket Open results
Francis Fuenffinger (Hibbing, MN) 125 2-2 DNP
Allen Everson (Bloomington, MN) 133 0-2 DNP
Parker Dobrocky (Anoka, MN) 141 4-1 5th
Brandon Kidd Jr. (Shakopee, MN) 149 3-2 DNP
Matt Frost (New York Mills, MN) 149 1-2 DNP
Noah Parish (Mankato, MN) 149 2-2 DNP
Alex Lloyd (Shakopee, MN) 157 5-0 1st
Charlie Gellerman (Big Lake, MN) 165 2-2 4th
Seth Brossard (Kenyon, MN) 165 4-1 5th
Sage Loredo-Hollon (St. Peter, MN) 174 0-2 DNP
Tyler Schroer (Le Center, MN) 174 UNATTACHED 174 0-2 DNP
Gavin Christoffersen (So. St. Paul, MN) 184 3-2 4th
Jeremiah Colon (Lake Crystal, MN) 184 2-2 DNP
Carson Ties (Rochester, MN) 197 UNATTACHED 3-2 6th
Richie Hammonds (Anoka, MN) 197 UNATTACHED 4-0 1st
Braden Willis (Isle, MN) 285 0-2 DNP
John Noll (Lino Lakes, MN) 285 6-1 5th
The Yellowjackets compete next in the Dakota Wesleyan Open on November 9th in Mitchell, SD. Wrestling begins at 9:00 am.
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