Results Through Saturday
York, PA - No. 8 Messiah wrestling had five wrestlers advance to the Semifinal in their respective weight class on Saturday at the NCAA Mideast Regional, and three others are stil alive as the Falcons look forward to Sunday's final bouts.
Lucas Malmberg (125),
Jeff Hojnacki (157),
Larry Cannon (165),
Ben Swarr (174), and
Kyle Koser (197) are all in the Semifinals, with those bouts to start on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Three other Falcons--
Hunter Harris (133),
Derek Beitz (184), and
Nick Havener (285) are in the consolation bracket and will start up again at the same time.
Solid Streaks
The Falcons earned a few of their Semifinal placements thanks to dominating performances, starting Malmberg at 125. He collected a fall (2:24) and a major decision (10-1) in his two bouts, and he'll face Nick Mancini of Mount Union on Sunday. Mancinci entered the weeked as an Honorable Mention wrestler in the
d3wrestle.com poll.
Like Malmberg, Cannon had a solid showing with a fall (1:37) and two major decisions to vault into the Semifinal. He'll oppos Tyler Hardtke of John Carroll on Sunday. One weight class up
Ben Swarr collected two tech falls to earn a spot in Sunday's Championship Semi. He'll take on Honorable Mention-ranked Justin Ransom of Baldwin Wallace.
Narrow Bouts
A few notable bouts were both thrilling and close for the Falcons, including a SV Decision (3-1) for
Kyle Koser of Gage Galdysz in the Quarterfinal. That bout pushed Koser into the Semifinal where he'll take on Luke Fernandez of Elizabethtown.
In a same score-- SV Decision (3-1)--
Derek Beitz lost in the Quarterfinal of 184. The decision came to Zeckary Lehman of Baldwin Wallace, a wrestler ranked two spots behind No. 15 Beitz in the
d3wrestle.com poll.
Jeff Hojnacki also had a close battled in the Second Round of 157 against Conner Homan of Mount Union. Hojnacki came away with a 9-6 decision and he followed that up with a 12-1 major decision over Baldwin Wallace's Benjamin Hooff in the Quarterfinal. He'll oppose Nicholas Racanelli in the Semifinal.
Looking For More
Hunter Harris had a great start at 133 as he earned a pin at 1:23 in the First Round. But he then dropped a 14-10 decision to Evan Corso of Oswego State that sent him into the Consolation bracket. In his first wrestleback he earned another fall (1:24) and he'll start Sunday's competition against Pankil Chandler of Wilkes.
Like Harris and Beitz,
Nick Havener is in the Consolation bracket at 285. He had won his first wrestleback (Fall, 3:39) over Russell Porter of John Carroll, and he'll start Sunday against Sal Montuouri of Scranton.
All three of the Falcons in the Consolation bracket will need to win three-straight matches on Sunday to finish in third place and qualify for the National Championships. Two Falcons--
Lee Cassel (141) and
Stephen Maloney (149) were eliminated on Saturday with two losses.
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