PROVIDENCE, RI • North Central College headed out east for the Division III National Wrestling Championships, and when they return west, they will have added four more All-Americans to a program that has trophied or been in the trophy conversation for the past six years.
At 125 pounds, Christian Guzman was the lone finalist for the Cardinals, and the two seed made quick work of all four of his opponents as he advanced to the finals.
In his opening bout, he would win his first of three technical superiorities: a 16-1 win over Pacific’s Thomas Turner; a 19-4 victory over Keito Alvernia of Alvernia; and a 15-0 blanking of Castleton’s seventh-seeded Gavin Bradley in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Guzman would have the three seeded Zach Beckner from Ferrum. The match would, from start to finish, belong to the Cardinal. With a two takedown first period and escape for a 7-3 advantage going into the second, and then a reversal and ride out, Guzman would take a 9-3 lead into the third, add one more takedown and be awarded his rider for a 13-4 win and shot at a national championship.
Once on the championships stage, Guzman would now wrestle undefeated and number one seeded Joziah Fry of Johnson and Wales.
After Guzman scored the opening takedown of the bout, Fry would escape, score a takedown, and earn a four-point near-fall in the process, all with about twenty seconds remaining in the opening period. Guzman would battle, but even after scoring two more escapes, he would not be able to mount a comeback. He would fall 10- to Fry, but he would exit with a runner-up finish and a great tournament.
At 141 pounds, Bradley Rosen would earn his All-American honors the hard way: through the wrestlebacks.
After losing his first bout of the day to the number one seed and returning national champion Josh Wilson of Greensboro, 8-6, the unseeded Rosen would then rattle off four wrestleback wins in a row to reach the consolation semifinals. There he would once again have to wrestle Wilson who was upset in the championship semifinals.
This time, however, it would be a 9-3 decision for Rosen. And then, in his third-place bout, and with a great deal of confidence, Rosen would score a massive 22-12 major decision over the fourth seed, Ty Bisek of Concordia-Moorhead.
For Javen Estrada at 174 pounds, the eight seed would wrestle himself into the quarterfinals with a 23-3 technical fall in his first-round match over Connor Gregory of Castleton, and a second-round win over Austin Brass of Messiah.
In the quarterfinals, Estrada would lose to the eventual national champion, Jared Stricker of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Now in the wrestlebacks, more specifically the Blood Round, Guzman would need to defeat Lycoming’s Nolen Zeigler if he was going to earn All-American honors.
The match would be wrestled out very quickly. Estrada would defend a Zeigler hi-crotch by hitting the corner and locking up a nearside cradle. From there, he would fight it over to Zeigler’s back and win by fall in twenty-eight seconds. Estrada would drop his next two bouts and exit Rhode Island with an eighth-place finish.
Finally, Robby Bates would do what Robby Bates does, he would knock off the weight’s number one seed. After a first-round win over Washington and Jefferson’s Christian McChesney by way of an 18–0 technical fall in 5:00, Bates would feed into Wisconsin La Crosse’s Michael Dougals, the number one seed at 285.
After a scoreless first period, Bates would have choice, choose down, and escape after about twenty seconds. Headed into the third period, Bates would carry a 1-0 lead as Douglas chose down. However, Bates would deny Douglas anything, attempt after attempt, ride him out for the period, and win a 2-0 thriller that pushed him into the quarterfinals.
Bates would, however, fall in the quarterfinals to the eighth seeded Carl DiGiorgio from the Coast Guard, and now enter the Blood Round.
In his match to earn All-American honors, Bates would dominate after a scoreless first period. He would take a 7-2 lead into the third and then close out the bout with a fall in 6:40. He would lose his next two bouts, but come away with an eighth-place finish and All-American honors.
The Cardinals would finish their tournament tied for sixth with Coe College in Iowa, but North Central has proven to be a Top Ten team and trophy contender, and they are simply one or two additional All-American performances away from consistently bringing back trophies to Naperville.
Here is a list of the Cardinal All-Americans in weight order:
125 • Christian Guzman, 2nd
141 • Bradley Rosen, 3rd
174 • Javen Estrada, 8th
285 • Robby Bates, 8th
Here are the Top Ten team scores from the championships:
01 • 83.5 • Johnson and Wales
— • 83.5 • Wartburg
03 • 74.0 • Augsburg
04 • 69.0 • Baldwin Wallace
05 • 65.0 • Wisconsin La Crosse
06 • 60.0 • North Central
— • 60.0 • Coe
08 • 58.0 • Alvernia
09 • 40.5 • Coast Guard
––– • 40.5 • Wisconsin Eau Claire
Three additional All-Americans
Three additional wrestlers from Illinois schools would earn All-American honors this past weekend in Rhode Island.
The University of Chicago’s Sean Conway would earn a national runner-up finish at 141 pounds.
Conway would win an 18-4 major decision over Noah Hunt of Penn College for his tournament’s opening bout. Next up, Conway would take out the number two seed from Ohio Northern, Jacob Reed. This would be a 4-1 decision, and a big win headed into the quarterfinals.
In those quarterfinals, Conway would face and defeat Olivet’s Dylan Phelps, 4-1, with a period three escape to tie the bout, and an overtime takedown to close it out.
For his semifinal matchup, Conway faced and defeated the three seed Pierre Baldwin of Central Iowa, 6-5, with the difference in this one being an escape with ten seconds remaining, and riding time.
After an incredible run, Conway would fall to Mark Samuel of Roanoke on the championships stage, 9-3.
Millikin University would bring home an All-American fourth-place finisher Dejon Glaster at 174 pounds, and Wheaton College would earn honors at 197 pounds with an eighth-place finish by Jackson Punzel.
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• TC LIFONTI / LEAD WRITER FOR ILLINOIS MATMEN / tclifonti.com
