The Falcons have now won the Regional, four out of the last five years, however, Head coach Frank Romano mentioned that this was the largest margin of victory for Notre Dame, as a team, in the Regional.
As a team, the first place Falcons had 38.5 more points than Gannon University, who came in second with 116.5 points.
"We wrestled very well this weekend and we only had two seniors with us, Garrett Lineberger and Cobey Fehr, the rest were underclassmen." Romano said, "We feel really good about that."
Individually, the grapplers needed a fourth place finish, or higher, to qualify for the National Championship. The Falcons had eight wrestlers qualify for the National Championship and one who will be going as an alternate.
In the 125 lbs. bracket, Ivan McClay, who had the second-seed, went to work for the Falcons. McClay won his first match with a 10-7 decision and the second match with a fall at 1:57. In the semifinal round, he took down the third-seeded Austin Petril, from Kutztown University, with a 3-1 decision. He then defeated Alan Diltz, from Seton Hill University, in the final round, with a 10-9 decision.
David Bavery (133 lbs.), the three-seed, lost in the semifinal round to the two-seeded Dustin Warner, of Wheeling Jesuit University, with a 3-0 decision. Bavery was able to turn it around on the other side of the bracket, winning two matches, which included taking down Anthony Sparacio with a 3-1 decision to take third place.
At 141 lbs., third-seeded, Fehr was able to win three straight matches with major decisions, including Dylan Nace, who had the two-seed. However, he fell to Chris Eddins from the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, in the final round, taking second place.
Juwon Edmond, the five-seed, pulled off a couple of upsets on his way to a first place finish. In the quarterfinal, Edmond defeated Dominick Narnia, of Wheeling Jesuit, with a fall at 2:27. He would also take down the two-seed, Logan Grass in the final round with 6-1 decision at 149 lbs.
Fernando Silva will head to the National Championship as an alternate as he took fifth place in the 157 lbs. bracket. Silva fell in the quarterfinal and then lost to Joey Kratochvil, of East Stroudsburg University, in the match for fourth place.
In the 165 lbs. bracket, Isaiah White was able to cruise through his match-ups with back-to-back major decisions and a 6-1 decision to get the final round. There, the number three-seed, White, defeated Francis Mizia, from Mercyhurst University, with another major decision, 13-3.
Justan Rivera defeated Jake Stratton, of Gannon University, with a 16-9 decision in the semifinals. He would then fall to five-seed Dalton George, of Ohio Valley University, in the final round of the 174 lbs. bracket, taking second place.
At 184 lbs., Lineberger was able to continue his success as a one-seed with a bye in the first round. He won in the quarterfinals with a major decision and got past the semifinals with a Tech. Fall over the five-seed, Levi Niebauer. Lineberger then took down Nick Costa, of Gannon, with another Tech. Fall to win the bracket.
Kameron Teacher then took to the mat in the 285 lbs. bracket for Notre Dame. He won the first round with a fall and the quarterfinals after Ryan Appleby was injured. In the final round, Teacher ran into the one-seed from Mercyhurst, Andy Welton, who beat Teacher, with a 6-3 decision.
"We wrestled really well on our feet and nobody got banged up too bad," Romano said.
The NCAA Division II National Tournament is set to take place from March 10 to March 11 in Birmingham, Ala.
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