Results (pdf)
Wabash wrestlers earned two individual champions and a total of 13 top-six finishes to capture the team title at the 2012 North Central College Wrestling Tournament.
Jake Strausbaugh won the 157-pound weight class, while
Austin O'Neal picked up four victories at 197 pounds to win that weight class. The Little Giants put three wrestlers in the four semifinal round of the 157-pound bracket.
Strausbaugh, the number-two seed in the bracket, started the day with 16-0 technical fall over Cory Miklas from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. A pin at the 2:08 mark of his bout against seventh-seeded Blake Olson from North Central allowed Strausbaugh to advance to the semifinal where he scored a 5-2 victory against third-seeded Thomas Fehring from Mount St. Joseph. Strausbaugh was scheduled to face teammate and number-one seed
Reece Lefever in the finals, but a medical forfeit gave the Wabash senior the title.
Lefever scored back-to-back pins in his first two bouts. The first came at 2:09 in his match versus Cam Loomis from Wisconsin-Whitewater, followed by the second at 4:51 against Ricky Burns from Concordia to advance to the semifinals. Lefever picked up a 5-0 win over teammate
Josh Sampson to move to the finals against Strausbaugh.
Sampson scored a 9-2 win in his first bout against Will Hubberd from North Central. Sampson, as the fifth seed in the bracket, battled to a 7-5 victory in the next round before losing to Lefever, then lost his first consolation bracket bout 13-6 to Olson. A 7-0 win in the finals over Kevin Sundberg from Augustana gave Sampson a fifth-place finish.
O'Neal, the number-two seed, opened with a 9-3 win over Jake Melik from Augustana, followed by a 10-0 victory against Shane Branl from Concordia. O'Neal pinned Mount St. Joseph's Nathan Islamovsky at the 4:40 mark of their semifinal bout, then pulled the 4-2 victory over number-one seeded Shane Siefert from Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Tim Locksmith added a second-place finish at 133 pounds. The number-two seed entering the tournament, he started with a 15-0 technical fall against Justin Smiley from Augustana. A 5-2 win over third-seeded Luke Gaeth from MSOE allowed Locksmith to advance to the finals, where top-seeded Grant Sutter from Whitewater scored a 4-2 victory.
Ethan Farmer finished third at 165 pounds for Wabash. The number-four seed pinned Westin O'Brien from Wheaton in the first round at 1:20, then earned a 3-2 victory over fifth-seeded Connor Cummings from Augustana in round two. A 6-4 loss to Torey Welch, who had already knocked off the number-one seed earlier in the day, sent Farmer to the consolation bracket. He pinned alex Bowers from Augustana at 4:47 in their bout, then defeated top-seeded Lenny Kuspa from Concordia 9-0 in the finals to finish third.
Conner Lefever also finished third in the 174-pound weight class. A pin at 1:20 in his first bout of the day against Greg Ventris from Knox moved third-seeded Lefever to the semifinals where he lost a tight 4-3 decision to second seed Matt McCrary from Wheaton. Lefever moved to the consolation bracket and scored two straight victories to take third place — an 11-3 major decision against fifth-seeded Ryan Aprahamian from Whitewater and a pin 26 seconds into the final match of the day against seventh-seeded Casey Kenealy from Concordia.
Abe Hall was the final wrestler to capture a third place finish. Hall pinned his first opponent in the 285-pound weight class, fifth-seeded Abe Duran from Augustana, at the 5:33 mark of their bout. Hall, seeded fourth in the bracket, lost 3-2 to top-seeded John Schraidt from Augustana in the semifinals, then blanked third-seeded Jon Seaman from Augustana (9-0) and Duran (8-0) to claim third place.
Tommy Poynter and
Robbie Carter finished fourth and sixth, respectively, at 125 pounds. Poynter defeated Carter 7-4 in their first bout, then lost 11-4 to top-seeded Jake Scholten from Augustana. A 10-0 victory in the consolation bracket put Poynter against Jimmy Panozza from Augustana in the finals, but a 10-2 loss gave Poynter fourth place overall.
Carter rebounded from his loss to Poynter with a 4-0 decision over Joe Meylor from Whitewater in the consolation bracket, followed by a pin at 2:50 over Alec Noa from Lakeland in the next round. A pin by Panozza put Carter in fifth-place finals, but a pin by Nicolas Santos of North Central ended Carter's day.
Michael Venezia,
Kyle Nardi, and
Josh Sparks each earned fifth-place finishes. Venezia scored a 15-3 win in his first bout at 141 pounds, but lost 5-1 in round two. A pin at 6:30 and an 11-2 victory in the consolation bracket came before a 6-2 loss in the semifinals. A medical forfeit in the finals gave Venezia his fifth-place honors.
Nardi lost 2-1 to the number-two seed in the opening round of the 149-pound weight class, but came back with a pin at 1:53 in the first round of the consolation bracket, followed by a forfeit in the next round. A pin the semifinals sent Nardi to the fifth-place finals, where he defeated David Tessiatore 5-3.
Sparks pinned his opening-round opponent at the 51-second mark of their 184-pound bout, then went to a second overtime before earning a 3-2 victory in round two. A 10-5 loss in the semifinals and a 12-6 loss in the consolation bracket put the sixth-seeded Sparks against third-seed Andrew Pettit from Whitewater. Sparks won 7-1 in the finals to capture fifth place.
Wabash scored a total of 140 points to earn the team title. Augustana finished second with 134.5 points, followed by Whitewater (102), North Central (80), Mount St. Joseph (72.5), Concordia (56.5), Wheaton (18.5), Milwaukee School of Engineering (17), Lakeland (13.5), and Knox (5.5).
