Wells and Wilson finish in fourth-place at 2021 NWCA Championships

CORALVILLE, Iowa – Sophomore Zach Wells and junior Dominick Wilson finished in fourth-place to lead the Olivet College wrestling team at the 2021 National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III Championships inside the Xtreme Arena. Team scores were not kept.

• At 174 pounds, sophomore Zach Wells won his first match, 8-7, over Alexander Skaare from Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) University. A third-period takedown was the difference in the match. In the consolation bracket semifinals, Wells defeated fourth-seed Brian Shermeyer from Messiah (Pa.) College, 10-5. In the third-place match, Wells fell to Jacob Krakow from Loras (Iowa) College.
• At 285 pounds, junior Dominick Wilson fell to Wyatt Wriedt from Loras, 2-1, in the semifinals. Dropping to the consolation bracket, he beat top-seed Nico Ramirez from Southern Virginia University, 4-2. A reversal and two-point near-fall in the second period proved to be the margin of victory. In the third-place match, Wilson was pinned by Kaleb Reeves from Coe (Iowa) College.

• On the opportunity to chance at the NWCA Division III Championships:
  • "This weekend was a great opportunity for our team and all of the teams who participated to have a championship quality event all the way around. There was some great wrestling, and awesome ending to our season that we were able to have."
• On the performance by the entire team:
  • "We thought our guys wrestled extremely tough. We were in every match across the weight classes that we had guys in. We were scoring points and putting ourselves in a position to win. We were really proud of their efforts on the mat all weekend."
• On Zach's performance:
  • "Zach took a mentality to the mat that he was going to wrestle every position every second of every match and it showed. He went from almost beating the number three seed in the first round. Zach then won six matches in a row to reach the third-place match against the same guy who he wrestled in the first round. He had constant pressure and constant attacking throughout the tournament with no real fear of failure and that kept him in every match, and ultimately helped him win the majority of his matches."
• On Dominick's performance:
  • "Dominick wrestled so consistent and was able to win positions in different matches to put himself in a situation to be in the semifinals. The amount of effort he put into his hand fights and just being explosive when he needed to move was amazing. We are really proud of him and everything he did."