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Wrestling WILCOX FINISHES AS 184-POUND NATIONAL
RUNNER-UP
Wilcox, a transfer from Gloucester Community College and the number two seed, reached the finals in his first year with the Aggies, but suffered an 8-2 loss to top-seeded and undefeated Romeo Djoumessi (29-0) of Wartburg. He became the fifth Aggie in as many years to place in the top two at the national tournament. Current assistant coach Jamal Johnson placed second at 197 pounds in 2005 and came back to win the crown a year later. Josh Housekeeper finished second at 184 pounds in 2004 while Ricky LaForge was the 141-pound runner-up last year. In addition to Wilcox's heroics, senior Ryan Herwig (Baltimore, MD/Mt. St. Joseph's), junior Kyle Bilquist (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) and freshman Chris Sheetz (Barto, PA/Upper Perkiomen) earned All-American honors (top eight finish) for the first time in their collegiate careers. Herwig made an incredible run in the consolation bracket and took third at 157 pounds. Bilquist finished in fifth place at heavyweight while Sheetz was sixth at 125 pounds. Delaware Valley finished with 64 points and just missed out on bringing home a national trophy as one of the top four teams in the country. Tournament favorite Wartburg (IA) had three individual champions and ran away with the team title with 147 points. Wisconsin-LaCrosse took second with 100 points while Augsburg (MN) and Coe (IA) finished third and fourth with 87 and 74 points respectively. The fifth-place finish is the third-highest showing in school history, behind only the 1988-89 (second) and 2003-04 (fourth) teams. They tied the 2004 squad for the most All-Americans in one year with four and have now crowned 55 All-Americans in its storied history. In the finals, Wilcox looked to avenge one of his earlier two losses as he dropped a 7-3 decision to Djoumessi at the National Duals in January. Djoumessi recorded a takedown 53 seconds into the match but Wilcox escaped for a 2-1 deficit. Djoumessi made it 4-1 with another takedown before Wilcox escaped to trail 4-2 after the first period. Djoumessi was in the down position to start the second and escaped early for a 5-2 lead. He added a takedown in the second and neither wrestler scored in the third. Djoumessi had more than a minute of riding time for a bonus point, an 8-2 victory and his first national title. Wilcox opened the tournament on Friday by pinning Nic Barclay of Luther 26 seconds into the third period (5:26). He then defeated No. 7 Robert Gotreau of Augsburg for the third time this season, this time by a 2-1 decision in the quarterfinals. He then reached the championship finals with a 7-6 victory over No. 3 Gabe Youel of North Central before falling to Djoumessi. Wilcox completed a memorable first season with the Aggies with a 28-3 record, a Midwest Regional title and national runner-up finish and All-American honors. Herwig, who was unseeded in his weight class, opened the tournament on Friday with a 9-4 loss to No. 4 Jesse Milks of Wisconsin-Platteville. However, he won five straight matches in the consolation bracket, including four by pin. The final pin came in the consolation finals where he needed just 80 seconds to drop unseeded Josh Terrell of Dubuque. Herwig's run began with back-to-back pins on Friday as he stopped unseeded Mike Martini of Rhode Island in 6:33, and then needed just 23 seconds to pin No. 3 Kyle Katz of Elmhurst. On Saturday, he dropped No. 7 Patrick McAuley of Cornell in 51 seconds and then exacted revenge on Milks with a 13-7 decision to reach the consolation finals and a pin of Terrell. A three-time national qualifier, Herwig went 81-40 in his three years with the Aggies, including a 26-13 mark this season. Bilquist, a junior and the second seed at heavyweight, reached the championship semifinals with a 6-3 decision over Glenn Gessman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a 12-4 major decision over seventh-seeded John Miller of Luther on Friday. In the semifinals, he met No. 3 Brian Borchers of Wartburg Borchers avenged an earlier season loss with a 5-3 decision. That dropped Bilquist into the consolation semifinals where Gessman also got revenge with an 8-1 triumph. Bilquist recovered and earned a 7-6 decision over No. 5 Ryan Bowers of Heidelburg to take the fifth/sixth place match and finish the year with a 30-3 record. Sheetz reached the championship semifinals at 125 pounds with
a pair of pins on Friday, but he dropped all three of his matches
on Saturday to finish where he was seeded for nationals - sixth.
However, Sheetz's run for a title came to an end when he suffered a 6-1 setback to second-seeded Clayton Rush of Coe. He then dropped a 6-4 decision to No. 4 Robert Struthers of Wartburg in the consolation semifinals and Oster avenged his earlier loss by pinning Sheetz in 3:43 of their fifth/sixth place match. Sheetz, who was named the Midwest Regional's Most Outstanding Wrestler two weeks ago, wrapped up his successful rookie campaign with a 34-8 record and All-American honors. Brandon Clemmer (Pottstown, PA/Upper Perkiomen), Dan Hall (Waretown, NJ/Southern Regional), Jesse Harrington (New Providence, NJ/Bound Brook) and Joe West (Washington, PA/Trinity) were eliminated from the NCAA Championships on Friday. Clemmer was unseeded at 133 pounds and dropped a 13-7 decision to No. 3 Travis Lang of Augsburg. He bounced back with a 6-0 shutout over Adam Pizzurro of John Carroll, but his run ended one victory shy of All-American honors as he was pinned by No. 5 Jordan Kolinski of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in 5:14. Clemmer, a junior transfer, finished the season with a 25-9 record and is first trip to the Division III championships. Hall entered the tournament as the second seed at 141 pounds, but he went 1-2 and came up one win shy of All-American accolades for the third time in his career. The senior and four-time national qualifier fell 3-1 to unseeded Niles Mercer of Coe in his opening match. Hall then pinned Ben Anderson of Concordia Moorehead in the consolations, but his run ended with a 3-2 loss to fifth-seeded David Manoogian of Case Western Reserve. Hall finished the year with a 24-9 record and he posted a 76-38 mark over his four years with the Aggies Harrington was seeded sixth at 149 pounds, but the freshman's first match on the national stage resulted in a 3-1 setback to unseeded Dan Twito of Merchant Marine Academy. He was then edged by unseeded Blaine Woszczak of Ithaca, 3-2, in the consolation bracket to end his season with a 27-8 record. West's first trip to nationals saw the sophomore suffer a 3-1 loss in the No. 8 Matthew Miller of Lycoming in the opening round of the 197-pound bracket. West stayed alive with a 6-4, overtime triumph over Eric Vincent of Merchant Marine Academy, but he then suffered a 6-1 setback to Anthony Neumann of Concordia Moorehead. He finished the year with a 23-9 record and one win shy of a top eight showing and All-American honors.
HOW DELAWARE VALLEY COLLEGE WRESTLERS FARED Mike Wilcox - 184 pounds - (Buena, NJ/Buena) - Seeded 2nd out
of 16 Wrestlers Ryan Herwig - 157 pounds - (Baltimore, MD/Mt. St. Joseph's)
- Unseeded out of 16 Wrestlers Kyle Bilquist - 285 pounds - (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North)
- Seeded 2nd out of 13 Wrestlers Chris Sheetz - 125 pounds - (Barto, PA/Upper Perkiomen) - Seeded
6th out of 18 Wrestlers Brandon Clemmer - 133 pounds -(Pottstown, PA/Upper Perkiomen)
-Unseeded out of 15 Wrestlers Dan Hall - 141 pounds - (Waretown, NJ/Southern Regional) - Seeded
2nd out of 17 Wrestlers Jesse Harrington-149 pounds-(New Providence, NJ/Bound Brook)-
Seeded 6th out of 17 Wrestlers Joe West - 197 pounds - (Washington, PA/Trinty) - Unseeded out
of 13 Wrestlers |
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