Men from Niedfeldt Residence, Galloway Residence, Simpson Residence, and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity competed at the college’s first official wrestling tournament, Charger Duels, on Sunday, sponsored by Man Up. Niedfeldt won first place after three rounds of wrestling.
The Charger Rumble, the name of Hillsdale’s previous wrestling event, was a fairly easy-going wrestling competition, junior participant Aidan Johnson said. Students challenged their friends to a one-on-one scrimmage without dedicated brackets. This year’s competition introduced brackets and a tournament structure.
Johnson, after talking to the Dean of Men’s Office, took over organization of the competition. He reorganized the wrestling competition into an official tournament with teams and rankings.
“We have done the charger rumble in the past,” Johnson said. “I wanted to make it more official and a team thing.”
The dorms and fraternity each sent an eight-person team that wrestled each other in a series of bracketed duels for the championship.
“Wrestling is one of the sports that it’s up to you whether you are successful,” Associate Dean of Men “Chief” Jeffery Rogers said. “It teaches you personal responsibility”.
Rogers said he hopes this sport will encourage the men on campus to become more active.
“It develops strong comradery,” Rogers said. “It’s the oldest sport in the world.”
The Charger duels ended with Niedfelt coming in first, narrowly beating Simpson.
“I competed last year in the less organized competition,” sophomore Tomek Ignatik, a member of the Niedfeldt winning team, said. “I really liked the Chargers Duels better and I am excited to participate next year.”
