Wrestling places five at NCAA III Central Regional Championships
By Tim Glon
| NCAA III Central Regional site | ONU Individual Results |
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- Senior Clayton Davidson (Kirtland) placed sixth at 174 pounds and junior Seth Transue (Plain City/Dublin) placed sixth at the 125-pound weight class to lead the Ohio Northern wrestling team at the 2019 NCAA Division III Central Regional Wrestling Championships on Friday and Saturday at Knowling Fieldhouse.
Fourth-seeded Davidson (30-10) advanced to the semifinals in the 174-pound weight class with a pin of Shannon Legge of Defiance in the first round and a 5-4 decision over fifth-seeded Jeremiah Slagle of Heidelberg in the quarterfinals on Friday
Davidson fell to top-seeded Darden Schrug of host Wabash in the semifinals before falling 6-1 to sixth-seeded Nick Miller of Trine in the consolation semifinals.
In the sixth place match, Davidson fell to Slagle in a quarterfinal rematch.
Davidson ends his career with a 115-50 record with 35 pins, 11 tech falls and 11 major decisions.
Fourth-seeded Transue (21-8) had the easiest day of all the Polar Bears on Friday, receiving a first-round bye and advancing to the semifinals with a 7-5 victory over fifth-seeded Rosendo Beltran of Defiance.
Transue fell in the semifinals to top-ranked Jordan Burkholder of Muskingum 5-1 on Saturday morning and finished the final day with an 0-3 record to place sixth.
The top three in each weight class advance to the NCAA III Championships March 8-9 at Roanoke, Va.
Three other Polar Bears placed in the tournament.
Sophomore Cash Thompson (Lake Odessa, Mich./Lakewood) was 3-2 with a pin at 184 pounds to place seventh. Thompson finished the season with a 21-10 record and six pins.
Sixth-seeded Junior Jeff Andrews (New Baltimore, Mich./Anchor Bay) went 3-3 with a pin, a tech fall and a major decision to place eighth at 149.
He ends his season with a 26-13 record five pins and a team-best eight tech falls.
Fifth-seeded freshman Shaun Wagner (Southington, Conn.) was 2-3 with two pins to place eighth at 157. Wagner ends his season at 22-11 with seven pins.
"We wrestled very well on Friday to put ourselves in a good position," ONU head coach Ron Beaschler said. "That said, we were disappointed with today's performance. We placed in five weight classes with a very young team so that's encouraging. We should have four returning placers and four Scholar All-Americans back for next year, so that's a great foundation to build on."
The Polar Bears finished 11th out of 19 teams with 51.5 points in the team standings.
