Four All-American performances with two national titles and a runner-up finish led Wabash to a third-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Division III Wrestling National Tournament.
 
Riley Lefever repeated as national champion at 184 pounds. Conner Lefever scored in the closing minute of his 174-pound bout to earn All-America honors for the first time and add a second national title for the Little Giants. The third Lefever brother --- Reece --- finished second to earn All-America honors for the third consecutive season. Junior Ethan Farmer added to the team point total with a seventh-place finish to earn All-America honors at 165 pounds.
 
Wabash scored a total of 66.5 points to finish third overall, the highest in the history of the program and the first top-three national finish for any Little Giant team since the cross country team finished third in 1995.
 
"Our third-place finish this year was our break through as a team," Wabash head coach Brian Anderson said. "It lets the guys know it can be done, to bring home a team trophy. Our entire program was in the stands and got to see our qualifiers get it done this weekend, I know many of our guys in the stands will work that much harder this summer to make sure they are the ones out at nationals next year.
"Recruiting is a huge step in this process too, we want guys who want to be pushed in the classroom and get an unbelievable education, while getting a first class wrestling experience and to be on a team with realistic goals of winning a national title. I am extremely proud of the entire program and thankful for all the help of the parents, coaches, administration and alumni gave to us this year, they can't be thanked enough and are a huge reason our program is where it is today."
 
Riley Lefever advanced to the finals after defeating Heidelberg's Richard Dowdley 3-1 in sudden victory. Lefever picked up a late take down and secured an extra point for riding time to win the 184-pound championship 5-3 against Devin Peterson. The victory was the second of the season over the Wartburg competitor after posting a 6-3 win earlier at the National Duals. Lefever is the second student-athlete in Wabash history to win a pair of national titles, joining 800-meter title winner Jake Waterman (2012 and 2013).
 
Lefever was also named the NCAA Division III Most Dominant Wrestler for the season. The award is presented to the who accumulates the highest point total calculated by adding the total number of points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matches wrestled. Points per match are awarded as follows. A 12-match minimum is required to be eligible for the Most Dominant Award.
 
* Fall, forfeit, injury default or DQ = 6 points (-6 points for a loss)
* Tech falls = 5 points (-5 points for a loss)
* Major decision = 4 points (-4 points for a loss)
* Decision = 3 points (-3 points for a loss)
 
"Every year presents new challenges and this year was no different," Riley said. "This year definitely took a different mindset than last year, in many ways, it was tougher mentally because of the pressure I put on myself from the beginning. Around the mid-season point, I changed my mentality, focused on getting better and having fun, and knew that everything would take care of itself if I could do that every day.
 
"It's challenging being the top guy and having people try to gun you down throughout the whole year, but I loved it, and now since I know what that's like, I feel like I can only improve upon the last two years' performances. Winning the individual title felt amazing, but nothing beat taking the third place team trophy and having all my brothers, who battled throughout the year, come down onto the stage to take the picture with the trophy was icing on the cake. Everyone on our team makes so many sacrifices throughout the year and sharing that moment with them was honestly better than winning an individual title. It was our goal this year to take home a team trophy and we did, sharing this with my teammates and especially my brothers is something I will never forget. It was all so crazy, all of us wrestling in the finals, I loved it, and I love our team and coaches and fans and everyone who was supporting us in Hershey, and online."
 
Conner Lefever defeated Sebastian Gardner from Concordia-Moorhead 10-5 in the 174-pound semifinals in the second meeting between the two competitors. Lefever won the first meeting 5-3. The victory put the Wabash senior up against third-seeded Zach Zotollo from The College of New Jersey. Lefever scored late then held on for a 5-4 victory. The final decision came in favor of Lefever after a challenge review upheld the score and gave the senior his first All-America title. The victory also gave Wabash two national championship at the same national championship event for the first time in school history.
 

"Seeing Riley win nationals last year really made me see that winning a national championship was obtainable," Conner said. "I did everything in my power to make sure that I would accomplish my goal for the end of the season. Bringing home third place is amazing and shows how hard the entire team worked to accomplish our goal of bringing home a team trophy. Even though there were only five point scorers in the national tournament, the entire team helped bring home the trophy by training with the starters and coming out and supporting us at nationals. We have the best coaching staff in the world willing to do anything to help the team succeed which is a major part to why we finished third in the nation."
 
Reece Lefever became the first three-time All-American in Wabash wrestling history and was part of the first group of three brothers to ever compete at an NCAA wrestling tournament in the same season. Lefever picked up a 3-2 win in sudden victory in the semifinals against Williams College's Jorge Lopez to move to the finals. Lefever battled top-seeded Nick Carr from Washington and Jefferson in the 157-pound finals, but early points proved too much to overcome as the senior lost 6-2 to finish second.
 
"I do not think it has really sunk in what we accomplished as a program yet," Reece said. "When I stop to think about our accomplishments as a team, it is awesome to see how much we have achieved this year. Being a part of this third place team with my brothers is an awesome feeling. It was nice to end my college wrestling career competing on the big stage with my brothers.
 
"Being the first three time All-American in Wabash wrestling history also means a lot to me.  It shows the dedication I have had to wrestling.  Also obtaining three (National Wrestling Coaching Association) Scholar All-American awards shows the tough work ethic and dedication I have had in the classroom.  Hopefully, I inspired my fellow teammates to strive to achieve the accomplishments I have obtained and more."
 
"Coaching all three Lefever brothers has been awesome," Anderson said. "They are great guys and phenomenal workers. They are unbelievably dedicated and are always looking for more to do to improve themselves. They all are a blast to work with because they love the sport of wrestling and bring a positive attitude to every practice. To work with wrestlers like them is a coach's dream and doesn't happen very often, I feel blessed that I had the opportunity."
 
Farmer earned All-America at 165 pounds, dropping to the seventh-place bout after being pinned in a sudden victory match in consolation bracket against Eric Hensel from Augsburg. Farmer rebounded for a 3-0 shutout win in the finals over Bader from Hunter. The two had opened the tournament in a rattail match at 165 pounds on Friday, with Bader taking the win in that first encounter by a score of 4-2.
"It's an amazingly satisfying feeling because it had been my goal from the beginning of the year to stand on that podium and it's awesome to have something to show for all the hard work I've put into it," Farmer said. "It also gave me the experience and confidence I need going into next year, knowing I can compete at the highest level.

"This third-place finish shows how much effort and dedication the whole team has put into this sport. We are blessed with hardworking and dedicated coaches and wrestlers who just want to be the best they can at what they do and the practice room showed that. So now it's nice to have a trophy that shows it as well."
 
While freshman Devin Broukal did not advance to Saturday's finals, the freshman scored important team points for the Little Giants Friday with a pin of eighth-seeded Trevor Pruett from Wisconsin-Whitewater at 2:04 in their consolation round match. Pruett defeated Broukal 4-3 to win the Midwest Regional title two weeks earlier. Broukal's win helped Wabash edge UW-Whitewater in the final team standings.
 
"This trip was a great experience as it gave me a glimpse of something that I now know is not out of my grasp," Broukal said. "Even though I fell a round short of becoming an All-American and wasn't a national champion, I still was close enough to see that both of those feats are possible. I am glad for the opportunity to be a part of this team. To have helped these fellow teammates earn a third-place national finish means a lot to me."
 
The four All-Americans is the most ever earned by a Wabash wrestling team competing at nationals.
 
Augsburg won its 12th national title overall --- first since 2010 --- with a total of 100 points. Wartburg finished second with 89.5 points. Wisconsin-Whitewater finished fourth with 60.5 points, followed by Delaware Valley in fifth (58.5 points).
 
"Our wrestlers understand that the goals we set for the team this year can't be done by one person alone," Anderson said. "Everyone has to bring everything they can to the table to accomplish our goals. Be hungry for points from start to finish, don't ever be satisfied and stay focused on the task at hand. All five guys did just that at nationals and it shows.  Devin's points helped just like Riley's. Points are points and you have to get them when you can. The guys understood that this weekend and they wrestled a phenomenal tournament together."