ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – It's been a busy November for the Ouachita Tiger Wrestling squad. The Tigers opened the month with a trip to Baldwin, Kan. and competed in the Dan Harris Open hosted by Baker University.   
 
The Tigers finished the meet having placed three finalists and earned two championships. Freshman Nate Rodriguez won the 133 lbs weight division and freshman Nathan Jackson won the heavyweight division. Sophomore Troy Mercer was the runner-up in the 197 lbs division.
 
Tiger Head Coach Kevin Ward liked the way his squad performed overall.
 
"It was a good tournament to start the season.  Obviously seeing two true freshmen win their first college tournament is exciting.  I thought both of them really wrestled well and showed a lot of confidence and composure for young guys," Ward said. "Troy Mercer had a good tournament, making the finals, but just needed a few more scores to win that last match.  We had other individuals win several matches as well, so overall it was a good start."
 
"Our competition will get much tougher," he added, "and we have a lot to improve on, but anytime you have two champs, it's a good place to start."
 
The Tigers followed up their road performance with their intra-squad meet this past Sunday at the Sturgis Physical Education Center in front of a raucous crowd.  The Purple and Gold Meet matched Tigers in the same weight class against one another for starting roster spots and exhibition matches pitting different weight classes against the other.
 
"Overall I was pleased with what I saw.  Our conditioning is solid, and we had guys that were pretty aggressive," said Coach Ward. Several guys scored a lot of points and it's nice to see that aggressiveness early on in the season.  I hope it's something we can build on and improve on.  It's very early, and we have a lot of work to do, but I am looking forward to actually competing against other teams now. 
 
Purple and Gold Results:

Bobby Williams	Pin	2:40	Andrew Martin
Troy Mercer	Dec	3-1	O'Dell Lee
Josh Myers	Tech Fall	21-6	Max Welsh
Garrett Evans	Tech Fall	18-3	Lee Celestino
Nathan Jackson	Dec	4-0	Taylor Poe
Andrew Martin	Maj Dec	14-5	Elyjah Crumpler
Zach Matthews	Dec	9-3	Max Welsh
Dallas Smith	Pin	4:15	O'Dell Lee

 
The Tigers travel to Chicago this weekend to face three tough opponents. Coach Ward is eager for the challenge.
 
"We don't ease into our competition, he said. "We are hitting it hard from the start so we will have to have a good week of practice and get ready to compete against three Div-I teams next weekend."