Four Polar Bears advance to NCAA III Championships as No. 13 Wrestling finishes second at NCAA III Central Regional Championships
By Tim Glon
| NCAA III Central Regional Championships site |
CLEVELAND — Four members of the No. 13-ranked Ohio Northern wrestling team earned bids to the NCAA Division III Championships in their respective weight classes on the second and final day of the NCAA Division III Central Regional Championships at Case Western Reserve's Veale Center.
Seniors Jordan Hardrick (Dayton/Wayne) and Chase Sumner (Ada) and sophomores Jacob Reed (Lancaster) and Gavin Layman (Chesterton, Ind.) are all headed to the NCAA Championships March 10-11 in Roanoke, Va. with their top-three finishes.
Head coach Ron Beaschler and assistant coach Kyle Kwiat were named the Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.
Hardrick won the Regional title at 165 pounds with a 4-0 record. He had three decisions to reach the finals and a medical forfeit to win the championship.
Reed won the title at 141 pounds with a 4-0 record including three pins and a major decision. He was an All-American last year with a third place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Sumner placed second at 149 pounds, going 3-1 with a pin and two major decisions before falling in the finals.
Layman was second at 184 with a 3-1 mark and a pin.
Hardrick and Layman will be making their first appearances at the NCAA Championships, while Reed and Sumner both participated in 2022.
Ohio Northern finished second in the 20-team tournament with 153 points. No. 4-ranked Baldwin Wallace won the team title with 175.5 points, No. 11 Wabash (Ind.) was third with 143.5 points and No. 16 John Carroll was fourth with 130.5 points.
In all, Northern had nine wrestlers place in the top eight in their respective weight classes.
Senior Logan Painter (Marysville/Early College) was fourth at heavyweight and ended the weekend with a 4-2 record.
Sophomore Dylan Le (Powell/Dublin Scioto) was fourth at 133 pounds with a 3-2 mark.
Senior Ben DePrest (Louisville, Ky./Saint Xavier) placed fifth at 197, finishing with a 5-2 record.
Sophomore Colin Mellott (Wapakoneta) was also a fifth-place finisher. He was 3-2 at 125 pounds on the weekend.
Sophomore Teagan Hendricks (Jamestown/Greenview) placed seventh at 174 with a 3-2 record as the No. 6 seed in his weight class.
"I am so proud of these guys," Beaschler said. "Every time we have competed our guys have shown up this year - and they really showed up ready to wrestle this weekend. We were winning the team standings after day one, got four through to nationals and placed nine of our 10 guys. This was a terrific tournament for our program."
Hardrick was the No. 2 seed at 165, Sumner was the No. 2 seed at 149 and Layman was the No. 2 seed at 184.
Mellott (125) and Le (125) were No. 4 seeds, while Painter (285) and DePrest (197) were No. 5 seeds.
