Three Cobra Wrestlers Advance at NCAA Midwest Super Regional

Photo by Stan Barnhill
Photo by Stan Barnhill

PEMBROKE, N.C. – The Coker Cobra wrestling team had three wrestlers advance to day two of the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regional Tournament hosted by UNC Pembroke on Friday (Feb. 27).

Travis Laxton went 2-0 in day one with a pin in the opening round against Pembroke's Josh Brown and an 11-9 decision against Ben Smith of Shorter.

Laxton will take the mat on Saturday (Feb. 28) in the semifinals of the 125-pound weight class. He will face Trung Duong of Newberry College. 

Also advancing to day two of the tournament were Rashad Cunningham at the 149-pound weight class and Luis Peguero at the 184-pound weight class.

Cunningham lost his quarterfinal match to Seiji Borja of Newberry, but bounced back to with a 10-7 decision over UNCP's Hayden Fry in the wrestle back bracket. Cunningham's first match of the day on day two will be against Landon Reed of King.

Peguero started the day with a 9-0 major decision in the first round over Mike Romanelli of Wisconsin-Parkside. He then lost a heartbreaker to Newberry's Jared Holliday, 3-0, in the quarterfinals, but he followed that match with a 8-0 major decision victory over King's Jesse Masters in the wrestle back bracket.  Peguero's first match of the day on Saturday will be against UNC Pembroke's Mikey Thomas.

The day two matches will begin at 11 a.m. Full coverage of the tournament can be found at www.cokercobras.com.