Franklin is one of 11 Upper Iowa wrestlers to win a National Championship; but now he joins three other Peacocks that have won a pair of titles.
Two other Peacocks have earned NCAA Division II Champion honors; Ryan Phillips, the current Peacock assistant coach, who won the title at 197 pounds in 2007, and Travis Eggers, who won the title at 165 pounds in 2010.
As time wound down in the first period, Franklin was able to score a takedown just before the clock ran out. Pokorny answered with an escape in the second period and built up over a minute of ride time in the final period, but Franklin got the win with an escape late in the period to claim the 3-2 win.
Franklin won his four matches at the Championships thanks to a pair of decisions, a major decision and a fall. In the first round, Franklin defeated Matthew Greene of Western State College by major decision, 15-1. In the quarterfinals, he won by fall (1:54) over Adli Edwards of Ashland University. The Peacock junior won a 4-1 decision over Ryan Fillingame of Adams State College in the semis to earn his shot at a second straight title.
Following the match, the Peacocks jumped from a three-way tie for seventh to sole possession of sixth place just a half point behind fifth place Newberry College.
The University of Nebraska-Kearney won the team title behind three individual champions and St. Cloud State finished second. Grand Canyon University and the University of Findlay tied for third place.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now