LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Two of the longest college wrestling dual meet win streaks remained intact as St. Cloud State and Grand View went 2-0 to move into the semifinals in their respective divisions, while a pair of junior colleges, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Western Wyoming, both shutout a pair of opponents and appear to be on a collision course in their quest to win a first National Duals title.
The day started with 84 teams in five divisions competing at the Kentucky Expo Center and Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky as NUWAY hosts the 2019 NWCA Multi-Divisional Duals presented by the United States Marine Corps and Defense Soap.
In Division II, top-seeded and four-time champion St. Cloud State extended its win streak to 37 in a row with a 38-3 win over Seton Hill and a 27-12 win over conference rival Upper Iowa. St. Cloud State kicked things off with a solid win at 125 pounds as 2016 Division II champion Brett Velasquez beat Upper Iowa's Maleek Williams 7-3. Williams was a 2018 Division II runner-up at the weight.
Along with Velasquez, four other Huskies went 2-0 on the day, with 174-pound All-American Kolton Eischens picking up a technical fall and a major decision. The Huskies will face fourth-seeded Nebraska-Kearney in the semifinals.
The Lopers opened up with a 35-6 win over Indianapolis in the opening round and then topped fifth-seeded Pitt-Johnstown 23-16 in the quarterfinals. Brady Radik's fall at 197 pounds was clutch and gave Nebraska-Kearney a 20-16 lead heading into heavyweight, where All-American Jarrod Hinrichs sealed the victory with a 3-1 win over Allan Beattie. Nebraska-Kearney is looking for its third National Duals title and first since since 2007.
In the bottom half of the bracket, second-seeded McKendree will face third-seeded Notre Dame College in Saturday morning's semifinals.
McKendree had little issue in a 35-9 opening-round win over Limestone, but the Bearcats needed some late heroics to upend upset-minded Central Oklahoma. Falls by Central Oklahoma's Will Steltzlen and Wyatt Jordan put the Bronchos in the position for the upset. Jordan pinned returning national finalist Brock Wingbermuehle at 165 pounds. Trailing 18-16 with two bouts remaining, Ryan Vasbinder and Luke Diener each earned one-point victories to give McKendree the dual.
Notre Dame College won four straight in the middle weights and used All-American Kameron Teacher's win at 285 pounds to get past UW-Parkside in the opening round. The Falcons then topped Wheeling Jesuit 21-9 in the quarterfinals. Wheeling Jesuit pulled the first upset of the tournament earlier in the day with a 27-12 win over sixth-seeded Lindenwood.
Against Wheeling Jesuit, the Falcons won five straight from 133-165, including 133-pounder Hunter Bray knocking off All-American Tyler Warner. Up 15-10 with two bouts to go, Notre Dame's Jared Campbell beat Chase Logan at 197 pounds to put the dual out of reach before Teacher would finish off the dual with a 6-0 win over Devan Uzelak.
The Division II semifinals will start at 9 a.m. Eastern on Saturday with the finals slated for noon.
NAIA
Grand View ran the nation's longest current college dual meet win streak to 69 after opening with a 54-0 win over Bethany and a 39-12 win over conference foe Missouri Valley. The Vikings, winners of the last seven NAIA national championships and National Duals titles, face off with the University of the Cumberlands, the tournament's fourth seed, in Saturday's semifinals.
Grand View used a total of 14 different wrestlers in the two wins, with two-time NAIA national champion Evan Hansen going 2-0 with two first-period falls at 197 pounds. Of the Vikings 20 wins, 10 were by fall.
Cumberlands knocked off Mid-South Conference foe Campbellsville in the quarters just a round after Campbellsville upset fifth-seeded Lindsey Wilson 24-11 in the opening round. Cumberlands opened up with a 41-4 win over last year's National Duals runners-up, Williams Baptist.
Against Campbellsville, a key win came from 149-pound NAIA runner-up Tres Leon as he majored All-American Jaedin Sklapsky 10-1 in the dual's only bonus point. Wins by All-American Eric Deluse at 197 pounds and Aaron Johnson at 285 pounds sealed the victory for the Patriots.
In the bottom half of the bracket, sixth-seeded Life pushed its way into the semifinals after bouncing out Baker and third-seeded Providence (Mont.). Against Baker, Life won seven out of 10 bouts and the Running Eagles followed it with another 7-out-of-10 against the Argonauts. Down 16-11 after 165, Life reeled off victories from Osvani Ley, Lucius Van Rensberg, Diallo Matsimella and Jimsher Sidhu to pull away 26-15.
Life will face second-seeded Indiana Tech, which moved past a pair of unseeded teams -- Cumberland U. and Southeastern -- to reach the semifinals. The Warriors jumped out with four straight falls in the quarterfinals against Southeastern and never looked back. Southeastern upended No. 7 Midland 24-18 in the first round.
The NAIA semifinals will get underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with the finals kicking off at noon.
Division III
In the 24-team Division III field, there were a handful of early upsets, but the top three seeds -- Augsburg, Wartburg and Johnson & Wales -- all advanced to Saturday's semifinals. The trio will be joined by fifth-seeded Wabash, which upended Ithaca 21-14 in the quarterfinals.
Returning champion Augsburg cruised, dropping just three individual bouts. Augsburg shifted its lineup around to make room for returning national champion Lucas Jeske at 165 pounds. In his first official action of the season, Jeske pinned two opponents to help the Auggies into the semifinals. One of the most entertaining bouts of the day saw Augsburg 197-pounder Lance Benick rally from down 6-0 in the first to pick up a big throw in the final seconds to earn the 10-8 win over John Jayne of the University of Chicago.
Augsburg will face Wabash in the top bracket semifinal. The Little Giants opened with a 27-16 win over No. 12 UW-Whitewater before upending No. 4 Ithaca 21-14 in the quarterfinals. Ithaca's returning Division III national champion Ben Brisman knocked off returning All-American Owen Doster 9-4 at 141 pounds, which offset the 125-pound upset by Wabash's Carlos Champagne over All-American Ferdinand Mase in sudden victory. Top-ranked Darden Schurg gave Wabash an 18-7 lead with three weights to go after a technical fall at 174 pounds. Wabash would ice it with a tiebreaker win at 197 pounds from Levi Miller.
Down low, Johnson & Wales edged Mount Union 21-19 in a back-and-forth affair. The dual featured some jockeying of the lineups to try to optimize lineups. Mount Union bumped up returning national champion Jairod James to 184 and his technical fall over Ryan DeVivo gave the Purple Raiders a 18-14 lead. Johnson & Wales bumped All-American Khamri Thomas away and he pulled out a 5-0 win at 197, while Michael DiNardo's move to heavyweight was big as he scored a 9-1 major decision to push Johnson & Wales into the semifinals for the second straight year. The Wildcats will face 11-time champion Wartburg in the semis.
The Knights opened up with a 34-6 win over UW-Eau Claire, which upset No. 15 WPI in the opening round. The move to the semifinals was complete after Wartburg shelled American Rivers Conference foe Coe 32-8. Coe was seeded 10th and upended seventh-seeded Baldwin Wallace in the second round. Returning Division III champions Brock Rathbun (133) and Cross Cannone (157) were solid. Rathbun earned a fall in his only bout of the day, while Cannone topped Coe All-American Cole Erickson 5-3.
NJCAA
Top-seeded Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and second-seeded Western Wyoming were perfect on the day, going 20-0 and advancing to the semifinals with a pair of shutouts. Three-time National Duals runner-up NEO opened up with a 57-0 over outmanned Itasca of Minnesota. The Golden Norseman would follow with a 46-0 win over Labette. Key match there saw All-American Boo Dryden, ranked third at 133, beat top-ranked 125-pounder Dillon Prutch of Labette. Prutch bumped up from his normal starting weight class. NEO heavyweight Antonio Andrade was 2-0 with a fall and a technical fall. Coach Joe Renfro's squad will face fourth-seeded Nassau in the semifinals.
The Lions opened with a 42-15 win over Joliet Junior College before rallying to win the final three bouts to beat fifth-seeded Barton 20-17. Wins down the stretch by Adolfo Batista at 184, Greg Hodulick at 197 pounds and heavyweight Edwin Rubio completed the comeback. Rubio was 2-0 on the day with a fall and the match-winning decision.
Third-seeded Northwest Kansas Tech had a trio of Mongolians go 2-0 at three straight weights to push the Mustangs into the semifinals and assured the program of its highest finish in school history. After a 41-12 win over Jamestown (N.Y.), Northwest Tech won the first four matches by bonus points and never looked back, taking a 37-15 win over Harper College to earn the opportunity to face second-seeded Western Wyoming in Saturday's semifinals in a matchup of Mustangs.
Of Western Wyoming's 20 wins, these Mustangs tallied six falls, two technical falls and three major decisions. After opening with a 47-0 win over Cowley, Western Wyoming knocked off Southwestern Oregon 44-0 in the quarterfinals. Southwestern Oregon upset seventh-seeded Rochester (Minn.) 27-21 in the opening round. Western Wyoming 125-pounder Dalton Stutzman was the standout on the day, pinning both opponents.
NJCAA semifinals get underway at 9 a.m. and the championship finals set for noon.
Women
Top-seeded McKendree bested No. 8 Southern Oregon 34-9 in the quarterfinals of the women's division on Friday. The win pushed both McKendree's men's and women's programs into contention for a National Duals crown.
Second the past two years, the Bearcats were led by top-ranked Felicity Taylor at 116 pounds and Alex Glaude at 155. Southern Oregon did pick up one notable victory as Gladdys Palma upended top-ranked Alexis Porter at 136. Porter was ranked No. 1 at 143 pounds. McKendree will face Emmanuel in Saturday at 11 a.m. in the semifinals.
Emmanuel ended Campbellsville's quest for a second straight National Duals title with a 22-21 criteria victory in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. Emmanuel's Hannah Gladden had a crucial 12-5 win over Alexia Foca at 155 pounds, which lessened the sting after top-ranked Abby Nette of Emmanuel was pinned by Andribeth Rivera at 130 pounds in a matchup of returning All-Americans.
In women's wrestling, which is freestyle, the first tiebreaking criteria is fewest number of red cards, and neither team received a red card. Both were even in the number of falls, forfeits, defaults and disqualifications, and both teams were even in technical falls, so the fifth criteria, most technical points, went the way of Emmanuel 50-44.
Third-seeded King, four-time winners of the event, won five big matches in the middleweights to squeak past the University of the Cumberlands 24-20. Two key falls by Briana Kellin at 123 and Nicole Joseph at 136 were part of the bonus-point parade the Tornado needed as the two squad split the 10 weights. Ana Luciano's 10-0 win over Isabella Ricchiazzi at 155 was just enough to seal the win. The Tornado will face second-seeded Wayland Baptist in the semifinals.
Wayland Baptist edged upset-minded Life 27-20 with back-to-back technical falls by a pair of returning national champions. Trailing 20-19, 170-pounder Brittany Marshall picked up a quick 10-0 win over returning All-American Stephanie Pantoja to give Wayland a 23-20 lead with one bout to go before Paige Baynes, a national champion last season at Grays Harbor in Washington, finished things off with a 10-0 tech at 191. Life made things interesting in the middle, picking up two falls and a technical fall at the middle weights.
Semifinals will start at 11 a.m. with the women's finals set to kick off at 2 p.m.
NUWAY hosts the 2019 NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals
Presented by the United States Marine Corps and Defense Soap
Kentucky Expo Center & Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
Semifinal matchups
Division II
No. 1 St. Cloud State (9-0) vs. No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney (2-3)
No. 3 Notre Dame College (2-0) vs. No. 2 McKendree (6-0)
Division III
No. 1 Augsburg (4-0) vs. No. 5 Wabash (5-1)
No. 2 Wartburg (8-0) vs. No. 3 Johnson & Wales (9-3)
NAIA
No. 1 Grand View (5-0) vs. No. 4 U. of the Cumberlands (5-1)
No. 6 Life (7-1) vs. No. 2 Indiana Tech (8-1)
NJCAA
No. 1 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M vs. No. 4 Nassau
No. 2 Western Wyoming vs. No. 3 Northwest Kansas Tech
Women
No. 1 McKendree (4-0) vs. No. 4 Emmanuel (17-1)
No. 3 King (7-2) vs. No. 2 Wayland Baptist (3-0)
Division II
First Round
No. 1 St. Cloud State 38, Seton Hill 3
No. 8 Upper Iowa 36, West Liberty 12
No. 5 Pitt-Johnstown 22, Fort Hays State 16
No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney 35, Indianapolis 7
No. 3 Notre Dame College 25, UW-Parkside 18
Wheeling Jesuit 27, No. 6 Lindenwood 12
No. 7 Central Oklahoma 22, Gannon 17
No. 2 McKendree 35, Limestone 9
Quarterfinals
No. 1 St. Cloud State 27, No. 8 Upper Iowa 12
No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney 23, No. 5 Pitt-Johnstown 16
No. 3 Notre Dame College 21, Wheeling Jesuit 9
No. 2 McKendree 22, No. 7 Central Oklahoma 18
Division III
First Round
Chicago 23, No. 16 Centenary 15
No. 9 UW-La Crosse 47, Augustana (Ill.) 0
No. 12 UW-Whitewater 30, Luther 12
No. 13 Olivet 30, Johns Hopkins 13
No. 14 Millikin 31, Heidelberg 15
No. 11 Roger Williams 42, Greensboro 9
No. 10 Coe 42, Westminster 10
UW-Eau Claire 31, No. 15 WPI 8
Second Round
No. 1 Augsburg 36, Chicago 3
No. 9 UW-La Crosse 30, No. 8 York (Pa.) 11
No. 5 Wabash 27, No. 12 UW-Whitewater 12
No. 4 Ithaca 39, No. 13 Olivet 6
No. 3 Johnson & Wales 31, No. 14 Millikin 18
No. 6 Mount Union 31, No. 11 Roger Williams 10
No. 10 Coe 21, No. 7 Baldwin Wallace 16
No. 2 Wartburg 34, UW-Eau Claire 6
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Augsburg 29, No. 9 UW-La Crosse 6
No. 5 Wabash 21, No. 4 Ithaca 14
No. 3 Johnson & Wales 21, No. 6 Mount Union 18
No. 2 Wartburg 32, No. 10 Coe 8
NAIA
First Round
No. 1 Grand View 54, Bethany (Kan.) 0
Missouri Valley 23, No. 8 Southern Oregon 15
Campbellsville 24, No. 5 Lindsey Wilson 11
No. 4 U. of the Cumberlands 41, Williams Baptist 4
No. 3 Providence (Mont.) 20, Marian 16
No. 6 Life 26, Baker 9
Southeastern 24, No. 7 Midland 18
No. 2 Indiana Tech 27, Cumberland U. 12
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Grand View 39, Missouri Valley 12
No. 4 U. of the Cumberlands 19, Campbellsville 12
No. 6 Life 26, No. 3 Providence (Mont.) 16
No. 2 Indiana Tech 38, Southeastern 10
NJCAA
First Round
No. 1 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 57, Itasca 0
No. 8 Labette 33, Triton 17
No. 5 Barton 31, Muskegon 16
No. 4 Nassau 42, Joliet 16
No. 3 Northwest Kansas Tech 21, Jamestown (N.Y.) 12
No. 6 Harper 42, Spartanburg Methodist 7
Southwestern Oregon 27, No. 7 Rochester (Minn.) 21
No. 2 Western Wyoming 47, Cowley 0
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 46, No. 8 Labette 0
No. 4 Nassau 20, No. 5 Barton 17
No. 3 Northwest Kansas Tech 37, No. 6 Harper 15
No. 2 Western Wyoming 44, Southwestern Oregon 0
Women
First Round
No. 8 Southern Oregon 36, Missouri Valley 5
No. 5 Campbellsville 44, Nassau 0
No. 6 U. of the Cumberlands 48, Gannon 0
No. 7 Life 37, Lyon 12
Quarterfinals
No. 1 McKendree 34, No. 8 Southern Oregon 9
No. 4 Emmanuel 22, No. 5 Campbellsville 21 (Criteria No. 5, Most Technical Points EC 50-44)
No. 3 King 24, No. 6 U. of the Cumberlands 20
No. 2 McKendree 27, No. 7 Life 20
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