McMINNVILLE, Ore. – In front of packed grandstands, underneath fighter jets in as stunning of a wrestling venue as you'll find anywhere in the country, Linfield University men's and women's wrestling teams hosted the second annual Night at the Museum duals Friday at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. 
 
The Wildcat men battled Southwestern Oregon to the final match before falling to the Lakers 27-25. Linfield led 22-15 after Ethan Ensrud earned bonus points with a major decision at 174 pounds. But after giving up a forfeit at 184 pounds and a pin at 197, Linfield needed a pin at heavyweight to pull out the dual. 
 
Heavyweight Julian Ortiz controlled the 285-pound match, leading wire to wire in a 4-0 win for the Wildcats, but couldn't pull out the pin. That allowed the Lakers to escape with the two-point team victory. 
 
Linfield's lone win by fall came at 149 pounds, where freshman Carlos Kisokwa built an early lead and ultimately pinned SWOCC's Shawn Parker 46 seconds into the second round. 
 
"We had some really good individual efforts tonight," said Linfield coach Frank Johnson. "Carlos, Ethan, [Julian] and others. We just need to get more depth and more consistent results across the lineup. We're still a young program with a lot of underclassmen getting mat time. We'll get there." 
 
On the women's side, Linfield was missing a bevy of starters out with injuries. Evergreen State won all four contested matches and ultimately dominated the dual 34-0. 
 
At 131 pounds, Linfield's Emily Sullenger led 6-3 after round one and 8-3 midway through round two, when she got caught attempting to roll through Evergreen State's Erica Grant. Grant held on for the come-from-behind pin to end Linfield's best opportunity for team points on the night. 
 
"Emily was controlling the match, and just made a mistake," said Johnson. "That's the way it goes some nights. It's a learning experience, to work on how we close out matches against quality opponents." 
 
NEXT
Linfield men and women travel to La Grande to face Eastern Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 1. The EOU men are ranked No. 18 in the NAIA and the Mountaineer women are ranked No. 17. 
  Men
Southwestern Oregon 27, Linfield 25
125: Jacob Moore (Linfield) won by forfeit
133: Max Vander Meide (Linfield) won by forfeit
141: Wyatt Smith (SWOCC) won by forfeit
149: Carlos Kisokwa (Linfield) pinned Shawn Parker (SWOCC), 3:46
157: Will Walton (SWOCC) won by forfeit
165: Wayde Walton (SWOCC) won by decision over Lucien Lefebvre (Linfield), 8-3
174: Ethan Ensrud (Linfield) won by major decision over Mario Deanda-Lopez (SWOCC), 14-6
184: Emanuel Miller (SWOCC) won by forfeit
197: Matthew Ager (SWOCC) pinned Divenson Willis (Linfield), 3:00
HWT: Julian Ortiz (Linfield) won by decision over Brock Barron-Perreira (SWOCC), 4-0
 
Women
Evergreen State 34, Linfield 0
103: Mariah Salas (Evergreen State) pinned Tori Debold (Linfield), 0:50
110: double forfeit
117: Nizhoni Tallman (Evergreen State) won by tech fall over Kelsie Rush (Linfield), 10-0
124: Emma Desotell (Evergreen State) won by forfeit
131: Erica Grant (Evergreen State) pinned Emily Sullenger (Linfield), 4:22
138: Charlie White-Duringer (Evergreen State) won by forfeit
145: double forfeit
160: Flor Parker-Borrero (Evergreen State) pinned Abisua Perez-Diaz (Linfield), 0:48
180: Viktoriya Dovhoruka (Evergreen State) won by forfeit
207: double forfeit