Wrestling finishes seventh at NCAA Championships
5 min readCEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – The RIT wrestling group concluded seventh with a college file in details at the 2022 NCAA D-III Wrestling Championships, Saturday.
Seniors Kaidon Winters and Zach Stedeford joined junior Austin Lamb as All-Us citizens after ending in the leading-8 in their pounds lessons. Freshman Josh Harkless failed to make the podium, but was spectacular in his first national event in his very first calendar year of eligibility.
“Four Qualifiers who contributed towards a school document in scoring as very well as crew placement at the NCAA Championships. Three All People who will be for good celebrated by our system and on our wrestling home partitions. What an astounding journey we had this weekend. Looking at the preliminary brackets it would have been easy to make excuses, as we experienced a few wrestlers with preliminary matches (two in the championship bracket and 1 in the consolation bracket) and two with possibly the first or 2nd seeded wrestlers for their 1st match. The way we responded was amazing. The crew peaked at the correct time,” RIT head wrestling mentor Jason Bovenzi reported.
“This time the staff stepped up in the encounter of adversity time immediately after time, and in doing so they placed fourth in the nation in the National Dual Meet up with Championships a 1st in application heritage. They battled COVID and rebounded to solidify our fifth-straight successful time, and we capped it off with an amazing and document setting NCAA match. 10 teammates, every single family members, and many alumni designed the journey to check out it all. Both equally myself and the rest of the coaching personnel ended up happy and humbled by our RIT Wrestling Spouse and children. Just wait around right up until up coming yr!”
Winters, who was rated No. 1 at 157 pounds, finished next immediately after slipping 5-3 in extra time in the title bout to No. 3 Nathan Lackman of Rhode Island School. The RIT senior led in the course of the match with a 1- lead just after the second interval, and a 2-1 lead late in the third. Winters’ 3:27 of driving time was the most of any match in the tournament and the point from that factored into getting the match to additional time right after Lackman went in advance 3-2 in the last seconds.
Winters attained a finals berth soon after a 7-2 semifinal get above No. 5 Tyler Shilson (Augsburg). In the quarterfinals, Winters set a plan file with 23 pins in a one season after beating Stanley Bleich (Baldwin Wallace) in 6:36. Winters opened the tournament with a drop above Schuyler Caprella (Ohio Northern) in 5:30.
“What can you say about Kaidon Winters? He has shocked me each and every day with his do the job ethic and enthusiasm for the sport. Some people live to wrestle. Kaidon wrestles to dwell. His season ended with him claiming the top rated location in our program’s record with career wins and pins. A lot will arrive to light in the coming times about Kaidon’s finals match. Protocols and techniques will advantage potential opponents because of it. With that staying reported, Kaidon astonished us all over again, this time with his class. Promptly after the match he mentioned to me ‘this one’s likely to sting for a whilst.’ He adopted that up with a information that usually caught with him from his substantial school mentor which was to ‘never go away it (your match) in the officials arms.’ That mind-set at that time assisted me move from that moment of devastation, to the realization that both of those Kaidon and this group have been distinctive in so quite a few means this 12 months. It has been an honor to coach Kaidon,” Bovenzi said.
Stedeford finished sixth following likely 3-3 in the tournament with two losses coming towards No. 2 Zane Mulder (Wartburg). Right after suffering a 15-1 important determination to Mulder in the opening spherical, Stedeford strung alongside one another a few wins to go to the consolation semifinals, where he fell to Mulder all over again, this time by a 9-1 score.
Stedeford’s first acquire came versus Coe’s Tristan Westphal with an 11-5 choice, adopted by a 4-1 earn around No. 8 Charlie Gryas (Oswego). Stedeford commenced the next day with a 10-4 get more than Stefan Important (Stevens Institute of Technologies). In the fifth-area match, Stedeford fell by tumble to No. 5 Solomon Nielsen in 6:59.
“Zach Stedeford, up 3 fat classes from when he competed final prior to the pandemic, drew from all of his working experience and guile, and competed for seven minutes in every match dealing with them like they have been his last, and he climbed the podium as an All-American,” stated Bovenzi.
Lamb concluded eighth right after heading 3-3 in the tournament and received two of his first three matches in advance of an time beyond regulation reduction finished his streak.
The junior started out the event with a 7-3 gain around Preston Morgan (UW-Oshkosh) just before slipping to No. 6 Philip Rogers (US Coastline Guard Academy) by 7-2. A pair of wrestleback wins on the initial day assured Lamb All-American position with a tumble (5:43) more than Fox Maxwell (Bridgewater State) and a 7- get around Jaden Datz (Washington and Jefferson).
Lamb fell 5-3 in overtime in the consolation quarterfinals and then fell in the seventh-location match by drop (1:29) to No. 4 Seth Brossard (UW-LaCrosse).
“Austin Lamb’s placement only tells you element of the tale. He was in placement to earn in each and every match he missing. The margin for error is so smaller at the Nationwide Championships and he proved to anyone that he can compete with any person. He met just one of his ambitions as a collegiate wrestler when he received his match in the ‘blood round’ in which he acquired All-American honors. His objectives will alter to be at the major place in the foreseeable future. Possessing finished his next 12 months of higher education wrestling, we are thrilled about his upcoming,” Bovenzi mentioned.
Harkless completed 1-2 in the event with two of his a few opponents rated. Harkless dropped a tricky 3-2 conclusion in the opening spherical to the eventual nationwide champion at 197 kilos, Cody Baldridge of Baldwin Wallace. As opposed to Baldridge’s championship 3-2 gain wherever he led the whole bout, versus Harkless the bout was tied heading into the final 30 seconds.
Harkless’ earn arrived by fall against Central’s Gage Linahon in 2:47. Soon after struggling with Baldridge, Harkless fell 3-1 to No. 8 Tyler Hannah (UW-Platteville).
“Freshman 197-pounder Josh Harkless wrestled the major seed and eventual national champion in the first round and gave him his closest match. Josh shed by 1 and just necessary to get one takedown to get the victory. He adopted up that match with a pin in the wrestle back again and fell on a final 2nd takedown to his closing opponent. Josh is extremely determined by this knowledge and we seem ahead to his really vivid potential in this article at RIT,” mentioned Bovenzi.
Warburg took the team title with 79 points, one particular ahead of Wabash. Augsburg and North Central concluded with 62.5 factors, followed by Stevens Institute of Technological innovation (46.5), Coe (40.5) and RIT (37).



