Judge advances to NCAA DIII National Wrestling Championships

Olivet places ninth at NCAA Midwest Regional

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – Junior Jesse Judge placed second in the 285-pound bracket to lead the Olivet College wrestling team to a ninth-place finish today at the 2016 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional, hosted by Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. With his performance, Judge punched his ticket to the 2016 NCAA DIII National Championships March 11-12 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Olivet scored 68 total points to finish 4.5 points behind eighth-place University of Wis.-Stevens Point and 6.5 points behind Elmhurst (Ill.) College. The host Little Giants captured the regional championship with 117.5 points. University of Wis.-La Crosse was second with 91.5 points. North Central (Ill.) College, University of Wis.-Whitewater and Wheaton (Ill.) College all tied for third-place with 84 points each. Alma College was sixth with 80 points.

Judge pinned his first two opponents – Zac Rieger from Adrian in 2:08 and Kody Bellamy from Ohio Northern in 6:02 – before beating Clay Broze from Wis.-La Crosse, 11-5, to reach the championship match. He fell to Trevor Maresh from Alma, 3-1, in overtime in the championship bout.

Senior Thomas Hall placed fourth at 197 points to just miss qualifying for nationals. He pinned Brian Clark from Manchester in the first round and then slipped past Zach Tooley from Wis.-Stevens Point before getting pinned by top-seed Angus Arthur in the semifinals. Hall rebounded to beat Brett Thumm from Wabash, 13-7, and then lost 3-1 in overtime to Michael Swider from Wheaton in the third-place match.

The Comets had four wrestlers finish in sixth-place – sophomore Jared Brickley at 133 pounds, junior Curtis Blackwell at 141 pounds, junior Austin Kelley at 149 pounds and junior Rodney Harvey at 184 pounds.

Brickley had a bye in the first round and then fell to Devin Broukal from Wabash in the quarterfinals. He came back to win two close decisions – 10-9 over Brandon Malone from North Central and 9-6 to Caleb Ramos from Elmhurst – before getting pinned by Nick Koch from in the consolation bracket semis. Brickley medically forfeited the fifth-place bout.

Blackwell finished in sixth-place. He had back-to-back pins over Jeffery Helm from Trine (1:14) and top-seed Matt Adcock from Wis.-Whitewater (4:55) to reach the semifinals, where Layten Binion from North Central edged him, 4-3. Down in the consolation bracket, Blackwell fell to Michael Venezia from Wabash, 7-3, and Cody See from Wis.-La Crosse, 15-0.

Kelley pinned Stephan Orlando from Alma in the first round before suffering a narrow 6-4 overtime defeat to Tim Locksmith from Wabash in the quarterfinals. Kelley responded by pinning Ty Jasman from Adrian in the first period and defeating William Byrd from Wheaton, 6-4. Kelley dropped a 10-1 decision to Isaiah Vela from Wis.-Whitewater and then medically forfeited the fifth-place match.

Harvey won 3-2 in overtime against Joshua Bouie from North Central in the first round before dropping a close 7-6 decision to James Davis from Adrian in the quarterfinals. He came back to win twice – 5-0 decision over Nick DiNardo from Elmhurst and pinned Trent Hullett from Alma 59 seconds into the second period. Harvey then fell 4-3 to Logan Walkup from Wheaton and forfeited the fifth-place match to Bouie.