Wrestling team finishes in third-place at NCAA DIII Regional, three Comets punch tickets to national championships

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Olivet College wrestling team finished in third-place the 2017 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional inside the War Allen Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In addition, three Comets – senior Austin Kelley at 149 pounds, junior Davon Jackson at 165 pounds senior Jesse Judge at 285 pounds – punched their tickets to the NCAA DIII National Championships March 10-11 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Kelley slipped past Kahlan Lee-Lermer from Chicago, 3-2, in the semifinals. In the championship match, he defeated Griffin Schermer from Wabash, 5-3.
• In the semifinals, Judge pinned Zac Reiger from Alma in the first period at 1:10. He dropped a 7-3 decision to Donny Ralston from Wis.-Stevens Point in the championship match.
• Jackson placed third at 165 pounds. He won 8-2 over Nick Dinapoli from Chicago and Tristan Wilson from Manchester. Jackson then used a takedown and took Tim Noverini from Elmhurst quickly to his back for the third-period pin at 5:52. He then defeated Stephen Aiello from Wheaton, 13-8, in the third-place match.
• Junior Jared Brickley finished fourth in the 133-pound bracket. He beat Tyler Norris from Otterbein, 13-4; and Ryan Weinmann from Wis.-La Crosse, 11-8, to reach the third-place match. In that match, he allowed a takedown in the first overtime period in a 4-2 loss to Owen Doster from Wabash.
• Senior Michael Schmidt was fifth at 125 pounds. He lost 7-6 in the semifinals to Carlos Fuentez from Wheaton and then was pinned by Nelson Baker from Wis.-La Crosse in the consolation bracket semifinals. In the fifth-place match, Schmidt got a takedown with 12 seconds left in overtime to beat Seth Transue from Ohio Northern.
• Senior Curtis Blackwell finished sixth at 141 pounds. He had back-to-back pins, the first one in only 20 seconds against Robe Harris from Otterbein and second one in only 4:13 against Ronny Hauser from Elmhurst. Blackwell suffered a close 12-11 loss to Layten Binion from North Central in the consolation bracket semifinals. He then fell 15-6 to Grant Morrison from Chicago in the fifth-place match.
• Sophomore Tyler Grimsley placed sixth at 174 pounds. In the semifinals, he dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Logan Walkup from Wheaton before losing 8-2 to Darden Schurg from Wabash in the consolation bracket semifinals. Grimsley then gave up a late takedown to lose 3-2 in the fifth-place match to Matt Marcotte from North Central.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

1. Wabash (Ind.) 134.0, 2. Wis.-La Crosse 102.0, 3. OLIVET 98.5, 4. Wis.-Whitewater 91.5, 5. Wheaton (Ill.) 89.0, 6. Elmhurst (Ill.) 64.0, 7. Wis.-Stevens Point 56.0, 8. University of Chicago (Ill.) 54.5, 9. North Central (Ill.) 51.0, 10. Otterbein (Ohio) 48.0, 11. Ohio Northern 31.5, 12. Adrian 22.0, 13. Alma 19.0, 14. Thomas More (Ky.) 15.0, 15. Trine (Ind.) 14.5, 16. Manchester (Ind.) 10.5.

UP NEXT

• The NCAA DIII National Championships will take place at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin.