Brackets/Results
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Simply put, it was a landslide victory for Iowa Central on Saturday night at the 2009 NJCAA Championships at the UCR Sports Center in Rochester, Minnesota.
The Tritons, who won their fourth consecutive national title, crowned five individual national champions (half its lineup) and eight All-Americans en route to setting the all-time record for points scored in the NJCAA Championships with 161. Nassau finished a distant second (first in non-scholarship) with 91.5 points. North Idaho (89.5), Clackamas (87), and Colby (74.5) rounded out the top five.
"I'm proud of these guys because they work hard," said Iowa Central coach Luke Moffitt. "They buy into the system as far as what we're trying to do from day one."
Winning national titles for the Tritons were Patrick Hunter (125), Billy Murphy (133), Carrington Banks (157), Brad Lower (165), and Phil Hawes (197).
Hunter, a New Jersey native who came into the tournament ranked No. 4 at 125, picked up a 7-4 victory over unranked Ricardo Gomez of Nassau.
"I sucked it up and got the big one for myself," said Hunter, who lost to Brian Moreno of Iowa Lakes two weeks ago in the North Central District finals. "I've been doing the right things, staying out of trouble, hitting the books real hard, doing the things not for everybody else but for myself."
Arguably the most dominating performance of the tournament was turned in by Murphy, who won by technical fall, 17-1, over Tim Thurston of Iowa Lakes in the 133-pound final, and earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for the tournament after registering two technical falls and two pins.
"This is what I planned," said Murphy, a former blue chip recruit out of California who started his collegiate wrestling career at the University of Iowa (Click HERE to read a profile story on Billy Murphy). "I had these goals since I started. It's just a matter of I already had a goal to go DI again. It's just another step. I got this step out of the way. Now I just look to the next thing."
Banks, who placed fourth at the 2008 NJCAA Championships, took home the title at 157 pounds with a hard-fought 8-6 victory over Bekzod Abdurakhmanov of Colby, the younger brother of former two-time NJCAA national champion and NCAA Division I All-American Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov.
"It was a big relief," said Banks. "I was expecting to win it last year. I wasn't ranked No. 1, but I was expecting to win it, and then I didn't win it. So I came back this year, working hard, ranked No. 1, and I got it. It was a relief, a big relief."
Lower, who was an NJCAA runner-up in 2008, won the 165-pound title over surprise finalist Steve Merth of Itasca, 8-3.
"Last year, I pretty much had that match won," said Lower. "I made one big mistake, got put to my back. That might have been why I was out there … I was kind of hesitating on some stuff on top, but I guess it just made me more aware of keeping myself in safe position."
Iowa Central's final national champion came at 197 where unranked Phil Hawes took home the title in impressive fashion, winning by a major decision in the finals, 15-6, over Parker Brand of Rochester.
"It means so much," said Hawes. "I've been training non-stop this whole year, just focusing on wrestling. This is really big."
At 141, Ellsworth's Jeremy McCoy was overcome with emotions after picking up a 5-3 victory over No. 1-ranked Aaron Senzee of Meramec.
"I'm so proud of myself," said McCoy. "I mean, I've wanted this my whole entire life, to win something that actually means something to me. This is nothing that I've ever done in my whole entire life. This means more than anything, to my family, to me. I feel I can do anything now. That was a sign from God to tell me to never give up and keep going, Jeremy, you're going to make it. I've had a long, hard road. People who know me know that I've been through more than any kid out here … and it's just indescribable."
Other national champions included Ganbayar Sanjaa of Colby (149), James Nakashima (174) of Lincoln (174), and Tyrell Fortune of Clackamas (285).
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