DECATUR, ILLINOIS — The Central College wrestling had a pair of individual champions at the Millikin Open Saturday in Brock Beck (junior, 133 pounds, Grinnell) and Rob Areyano (fifth year, 149 pounds, Selma, Calif.).

No team scores were kept at the nine-team tournament. A total of 17 wrestlers earned top-six finishes in their respective weight classes.

"All of our guys wrestled hard" coach Eric Van Kley said. "We made some improvements from last week.  Some of our younger guys had really good days."
           
Areyano was dominant in his first three matches, earning pins in the first period each time. He won the title match in 15-9 decision over Peter McCusker of Millikin.
           
"It was the first tournament of the year for him and I think he felt like had a pretty dominant day," Van Kley said. "There's a few things from the final that he wants to clean up but McCusker beat him two years ago so he was glad to get that done."
           
Beck capped a 3-0 day with a 5-4 decision in the title match against Manny Leija of NCAA Division II school Davenport University (Mich.)
           
"He wrestled really gritty and found a way to get it done," Van Kley said. "He had exactly one minute of riding time to get the fifth point he needed to win."
           
Rheiner Stahlbaum (sophomore, 125 pounds, Johnston), Christian Wilson (senior, 174 pounds, Houston, Texas, Cypress Ridge HS) and Michael Esquivel Jr. (freshman, 285 pounds, Aurora, Ill., Yorkville Christian HS) all reached the title matches before taking second place.
           
"I thought those guys did a really good job," Van Kley said. "They just as easily could have won it. They wrestled really tough."
           
Cael Cox (sophomore, 141 pounds, Ankeny), Austin Roos (sophomore, 174 pounds, Atkins, Benton HS) and Miles Berg (junior, 285 pounds, Indianola) all finished in third place.
           
The Dutch have a dual at Coe College in Cedar Rapids next Thursday at 7 p.m.