Final Brackets |
Final Team Scores
Cedar Rapids, IA -
Josh Thomson (184) led the team at the NCAA Championships with a third place finish while
Ben Kramer (174) also placed on the podium in eighth. Both of them achieved All-American status repeating dual All-Americans from last year's
Matt Cross (174) and
Tim Stewart (184). Thomson's third place is the highest result for a Falcon since Andy Vogel (149) in 2001.
Four wrestlers entered the Division III NCAA Championships this year, a significant achievement in-and-of-itself for the Messiah Falcons. The four of them propelled the team to a tie for 13th place overall.
The first up for the Falcons on Friday was
Ricardo Plummer at 165 lbs. against Cedric Gibson of Wisconsin-Whitewater. That match was very tight but Gibson went up 4-3 in the third and didn't let Plummer get any points back. Plummer's next match would occur in the wrestlebacks against Jordan Powell of Thiel. Powell proved too much for the junior, as the match ended 10-2 and stopped Plummer's run in the tournament.
The only senior in the group,
Travis Ebersole, also went 0-2 in the tournament. Both of his losses came by way of pin, both in the third period of his bouts. The first was in a match with Shane Siefert of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he got pinned in the final 30 seconds of the third period while attempting a takedown.
The first win of the tournament was from
Ben Kramer's 6-4 decision over Matt Burns of Augustana. Burns would eventually defeat Kramer in the 7th place bout to end his tournament on Saturday.
Kramer had some work to do in the consolation matches if he were to get up to that 7th place match. He did so defeating Dallas Winston of Delaware Valley 5-0 and then defeating James Roach of St. Olaf in a 5-3 decision. Both of those matches occurred Friday night and guaranteed Kramer with an 8th place finish and All-American status.
On Saturday Kramer went 0-2, which got him into that 8th place spot in the weight class. He lost the first match to Zach Zotollo of TCNJ in an 8-2 decision. The match against Burns for 7th went much like their first-round match-up but Burns got the better of Kramer with a 4-2 decision.
It would be a family affair for the Thomson family in this Tournament. Zach Thomson, Josh's brother, of Gettysburg wrestles at 174 lbs. and also finished in third place overall. Zach was the only one to make the trip from Gettysburg and throughout the tournament he warmed-up and prayed with the guys before their matches.
Josh reached his third place match in an exciting match against Colin Lenhardt of Johnson & Wales. The freshman found himself down 7-2 at one point in the second period be would come back to take a 10-9 lead in the third. He didn't stop there as he kept working and got Lenhardt in a very strong hold, rolled him over and got the pin at 6:00.
Thomson was then slotted to face Julian Meaney of Elizabethtown but Meaney was forced to surrender a medical forfeit.
On Friday, Thomson went 2-0 with two decisions of 8-4 over Shane Parcel of Roger Williams and 5-2 over Sam Upah of Wartburg. The two wins sent Josh into the semifinals, which guaranteed him a top-8 finish and All-American recognition.
Josh Thomson tried to avenge one of his two losses this season by facing off against Brian Broderick of TCNJ to start the day on Saturday. In the second period it was still very close but Broderick managed a quick five-point swing on Josh with a takedown followed by a nearfall. The deficit proved too much for Thomson to overcome and the match ended 8-5.
Thomson and Kramer were the ones that scored points for the team in the competition, they collected 21.5 points overall to tie for 13th place. Wartburg are National Champions with 103 points for the 3rd time in a row and 5th in six years.
