MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – Four Wildcats advanced to the "blood round" at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regionals on Friday, hosted by No. 1-ranked Augsburg University. But all four ended their seasons one win short of placing at the regional championships. 
 
"We lost a minimum of five matches here that were 50/50 and could have gone either way," said Frank Johnson, Linfield's coach. "We're a very young team, and we have a lot of work to do this offseason. We need to learn how to win those close matches in the future." 
 
Injuries didn't help, either. 
 
Linfield's best bet to win a regional title and advance to the NCAA Championships was 184-pound wrestler Jonathon Fagen, whose only losses on the season were medical forfeits. In matches he finished, Fagen was a perfect 12-0 on the year – including nine bonus-point wins. But he re-injured his shoulder at the Desert Duals in Las Vegas mid-season, and never made a full recovery. 
 
Fagen hoped to wrestle in Minneapolis, but found that he couldn't even do a full pushup when it came time to weigh in. Johnson scratched him from the tournament, rather than risk more serious injury. 
 
"That's a tough one, just with everything Jonathon has gone through and is going through," Johnson said. "He has the talent to be an All-American or even national champion, but just didn't get the breaks." 
 
Linfield's 133-pound starter, Max Vander Meide, ended up with a tear of his lateral collateral ligament in the final dual of the year, at Pacific. And the Wildcats' normal 165-pound starter, Lucien Lefebvre, injured his shoulder late in the season. 
 
"Wrestling is a tough sport, and sometimes things happen," Johnson said. "Clearly, we need more depth in the room and need to really hit the recruiting trail hard. The wrestlers we have are working hard and improving, but we need more of them." 
 
Linfield has had an NCAA wrestling program for three years, after starting it with the 2022-23 season. The university first brought back wrestling a year earlier, in 2021-22, with an NCWA club program. 
 
"We're still a new program, but that's not an excuse," Johnson said. "We need to be putting the building blocks in place to be a powerhouse program, just like the Linfield football and softball and some of the other teams are. Those programs win year after year and they have a lot of All-Americans. That's our goal for wrestling. We know what it takes." 
 
Friday in Minneapolis, the Wildcats came close to having four placewinners. Jacob Moore at 125 pounds, Carlos Kisokwa at 141, Brian Walker at 165 and Ethan Ensrud at 174 all came within one match of reaching the podium. 
 
Kisokwa, a freshman from Pasco, Wash., came the closest to winning his blood-round match. He was trailing Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Finn Bloomquist 7-4 late in the third round and made a desperate attempt to get a tying takedown before the buzzer. Bloomquist countered for a takedown and nearfall of his own to cement at 12-4 win. 
 
"Those are matches we need to win," Johnson said. "We have a lot to do in the offseason, for both coaches and student-athletes. I can't wait to come back and get started in the fall. I'm going on the record now: We're going to have a much different season next year."  125 
Jesse Johnson (Milwaukee School of Engineering) pinned Jacob Moore (Linfield), 2:24 
Thomas Holmquist (St. Johns) pinned Jacob Moore (Linfield), 1:59 
 
141 
Ty Bisek (Concordia College) won by tech fall over Carlos Kisokwa (Linfield), 17-2 
Carlos Kisokwa (Linfield) pinned Logan Harel (Wisconsin-Oshkosh), 3:49 
Finn Bloomquist (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) won by major decision over Carlos Kisokwa (Linfield), 12-4 
 
165 
Elijah Hunt (Concordia College) pinned Brian Walker (Linfield), 1:17 
Toren Vandenbush (Milwaukee School of Engineering) won by tech fall over Brian Walker (Linfield), 15-0 
 
174 
Jackson Hughes (Milwaukee School of Engineering) won by major decision over Ethan Ensrud (Linfield), 14-3 
Ethan Ensrud (Linfield) won by tech fall over Emanuel Diaz (Aurora), 17-1 
Fulton Stroud (Lakeland) pinned Ethan Ensrud (Linfield), 3:51
 
HWT
Tyler Raway (Augsburg) pinned Julian Ortiz (Linfield), 3:24 
Mason Swanson (Concordia College) pinned Julian Ortiz (Linfield), 2:00