UNI’s Cael Happel secures first finals appearance at Big 12 Wrestling Championships

Northern Iowa’s Cael Happel didn’t record a victory in two previous Big 12 Conference wrestling tournaments.

Now, he is just one away from becoming a conference champion.

Happel forged his way to the 141-pound final of the Big 12 Championships Saturday at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. He won three matches, advancing to the title match against Iowa State’s top-seeded Anthony Echemendia.

“He’s looked great,” UNI Coach Doug Schwab said of Happel. “Scored a lot of points.”

Thirty-five points in three matches to be exact. Happel, a returning NCAA qualifier after earning an at-large bid last season, opened the postseason with a 21-6 technical fall over Northern Colorado’s Rudy Lopez. The reversal of fortune continued in the quarterfinals, avenging a regular-season loss and dropping Missouri’s Josh Edmond, 10-3.

“Somebody’s got to slay some demons, right,” Schwab said about Happel’s conference tournament turnaround. “That’s part of sport.

“Every single bit of you is out on display. That’s part of what you love about it but also rips your heart out. He could have easily had, ‘Heck, I’ve been 0-2 the last two years and this guy just beat me. All those things the devil is talking in your head. I know he’s been focusing on being free and what’s most important and that’s the man above.”

Third-seeded Happel had a rematch with Oklahoma State’s No. 2 Tagen Jamison in the semifinals. The pair exchanged escapes in the first two periods. Happel was close to getting takedowns multiple times, including a flurry in the final 30 seconds that yielded no points, even after a review by UNI coaches.

When the match resumed, Happel hit a re-attack and finished the takedown with just a few seconds remaining for a 4-1 decision and his first Big 12 finals appearance.

“Doug puts us in positions like that all the time in practice where you get one, maybe, and they take it away,” said Happel, a four-time state champion for Lisbon. “You have to go back for 30 seconds. You’ve got to go get it.

“I don’t know how many countless times I’ve done that this year in the practice room. In my head, it was go find a score.”

Happel was joined in the finals by teammates Ryder Downey (157) and top-ranked 184-pounder Parker Keckeisen, who is attempting to win his third Big 12 title and the Panthers’ sixth straight conference crown at that weight.

All three were automatically NCAA qualifiers. UNI’s Jack Thomsen (165) and former West Delaware prep Wyatt Voelker (197) also secured automatic NCAA berths Saturday night.

Iowa State boasted five finalists and nine automatic national qualifiers. In addition to Echemendia, heavyweight Yonger Bastida, former Big 12 and NCAA champion David Carr (165), Cody Chittum (157) and 133-pounder Evan Frost made Sunday’s finals.

Iowa State finished Day 1 atop the team standings. The Cyclones scored 129 1/2 points, leading second-place Oklahoma State by 10. Missouri was third with 96, 3 1/2 ahead of fourth-place South Dakota State. UNI was fifth at 85.

SDSU’s No. 1 seed Tanner Sloan reached the championship bout at 197. He dominated his way to the finals, scoring consecutive pins in his first two matches. Sloan, a former two-time state champion for Alburnett, added a 15-0 technical fall over Voelker, a two-time state champion from West Delaware, in the semifinals.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com