DES MOINES, Iowa – In a tournament that consisted of some of the top wrestlers from the NAIA all the way to the NCAA D-I level, the Eastern Oregon men’s wrestling team managed to rack up three top-six placers at the Grand View Open on Saturday.

EOU’s top-ranked 125 pounder, Hunter Sparks, finished third after an impressive 5-1 day. Sparks defeated Tanner Ulrey from the University of Providence by pin 2 minutes, 45 seconds in his first match. He followed with a major decision victory over St. Ambrose’s Steele Dias, 11-0. In the quarterfinals match, , and remained steady taking the match over Grand View’s Lucas Rodriguez.

He dropped his only match of the day in the semifinals to Iowa State’s Ethan Perryman by a 7-4 decision before finishing with back-to-back wins to take third.

The Mountaineers’ Kyle Knudtson put together an impressive 5-1 day to take third at 184, winning his first match of the day over Jamestown’s Trystan Rogers by technical fall 19-3. He followed with an 8-2 decision win over Grand View’s Gus Davis and a pin of NAIA No. 8-ranked Brett Bober of Baker University in 3:19 seconds.

Knudtson’s only loss came against Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen, a NCAA D-I national finalist a year ago. He followed the loss by finishing the tournament with two wins. The first over Avila’s Daryus Webb by pin and another over Iowa State’s Tate Naaktgeboren by forfeit.

The final placer for the Mountaineers was Jay Smith at 19. Smith finished 3-3 on the day with all three of his wins coming by decision. His first win of the day came over Jamestown’s Jake Rau, 1-0. Smith then defeated NAIA No. 20-ranked Liam Begley of Marian by 11-4 decision. His final win was over Central Methodist’s Cameron Cornman by a 9-7 decision.