While at Nebraska-Omaha, Denney lead teams to several Division II titles at the NWCA National Duals championships. After his program was unceremoniously cut after the 2011 season, Maryville came calling, starting up a wrestling program and appointing the highly-respected Denney to lead the program.
It took three years for the Saints to ascend to the top of the Division II ranks as Donnell Walker's 4-2 victory at 285 pounds clinched Marvyille's 16-15 win over No. 1 Notre Dame College on Saturday at the Allen County War Memorial at the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals presented by Hibiclens and the United States Marine Corps in honor of Cliff Keen. The National Duals served as the showcase event for Mat Mayhem, which was hosted in conjunction with several events hosted by the United Wrestling Group.
Maryville joins Wartburg, Grand View, Clackamas and King as winners on Saturday night.
Maryville, ranked No. 2 coming in, picked up key overtime victory at 125 pounds and a crucial major decision at 197 pounds. Both teams split the 10 matches, but the bonus point at 197 was the difference, coupled with Walker's win. The Saints led twice – after 125 and after heavyweight.
"Last year was our first year in it at Maryville. We went 1-2. For these guys to do what they did -- I have tears in my eyes," said Denney. "It was a great match with Notre Dame, great match with St. Cloud. They're coached by Steve Costanzo, one of my former wrestlers."
Denney was quick to point the attention to his athletes.
"It was a great team performance," said Denney. "In that last dual, I'm so proud of them. I really appreciate Maryville giving us a chance to keep things going after what happened at the other place. I just want to congratulate our guys. I'm just glad they brought me along. It's been a journey. This is my 46th year coaching. My wife has been with me the whole time. We sometimes laugh that it's been a delightful challenge to start all over. I have to thank Maryville for giving us the opportunity."
Jaret Singh started the bout off with an 8-6 victory in overtime over Jacob Goodwin. Notre Dame College would pick up back-to-back wins at 133 and 141 as Ivan McClay topped Jesse Czerniewski and Mo Miller beat James Krischke.
Top-ranked Keenan Hagerty of Maryville topped sixth-ranked Andrew Bannister 7-3 at 149 pounds. Returning Division II champion Jonatan Rivera would bring the Falcons back with a victory over seventh-ranked Greg Hegarty. Maryville would answer back with a come-from-behind victory by third-ranked Dimitri Willis over Loudon Gordon at 165 pounds.
At 174 pounds, undefeated two-time Division II champion Joey Davis of Notre Dame needed an escape with 16 seconds remaining to scoot past third-ranked Zeb Wahle.
Returning national champion Garrett Lineberger would put Notre Dame College up 15-9 after a 4-0 victory over third-ranked Nick Burghardt at 184 pounds.
Ryan Beltz then stepped to the mat for Maryville and gave the Saints the crucial bonus point with a 12-4 major decision over Garrett Linton at 197 pounds in one of the few matches that didn't include a nationally-ranked wrestler.
Walker, a returning All-American who came in ranked third in the country, then topped Logan Rimmer 4-2 to give the Saints its first National Duals championship in school history.
Division III
While a new team ascended to the top in Division II, it was an old favorite who captured the title in Division III as second-ranked Wartburg knocked off No. 1 Wisconsin-Whitewater 20-13 to win its fifth straight National Duals championship and ninth overall.
"I'm so proud of these guys. Every single dual, every single match this entire weekend, I knew it was going to be a war and these guys stepped up," said Wartburg coach Eric Keller.
"This final dual, wrestling the No. 1 team in the nation. We won some matches we didn't think we'd win, we lost some matches we didn't think we would. It was a battle. I'm proud of these guys, they did it. These guys, all year long, starting the year unranked. That upset them. They had a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. We're going to go into this tournament and we're going to make a statement," said Keller.
The key victory came at 149 pounds where fifth-ranked Kenny Martin edged returning All-American and second-ranked Elroy Perkin 4-3.
Wartburg never trailed as Jake Agnitsch got the Knights off to a quick start with a 9-5 victory over Zac Denny at 125 pounds. Connor Campo added six points to Wartburg's total with a key forfeit at 133 pounds.
At 141 pounds, Matt Adcock of Whitewater upended 10th-ranked Kaz Onoo 10-6 in sudden victory. Any momentum was stuffed as Martin scored the go-ahead takedown with 37 seconds left and rode out Perkin for the win.
Whitewater would steal a victory at 157 pounds as Tom Gerszewski upended fourth-ranked Drew Wagenhoffer 5-2. Wartburg would answer with back-to-back wins by Andrew Steiert at 165 pounds and Brandon Welter at 174 pounds.
Whitewater would make things interesting with back-to-back wins at 184 and 197. Ninth-ranked Ryan Aprahamian of Whitewater defeated Devin Peterson 9-7 at 184 and returning national finalist Shane Siefert would pick up an 11-2 major decision at 197 pounds over Bryan Levsen. This set the stage for things to come down to heavyweight.
Fifth-ranked Ben Nagle of Wartburg topped eighth-ranked Anthony Edgren 5-2 at heavyweight to give the Knights a 20-13 victory.
NAIA
Grand View gave the state of Iowa its second team championship as the Vikings won their fourth straight NAIA National Duals crown, beating second-ranked Southern Oregon 23-13.
"It was tough. There's a lot of tough matches in there," said Grand View coach Nick Mitchell. "Those guys have a really good team, a really good dual team. I was real nervous going into it. We lost some close matches and we battled and won some tough matches."
"Getting those bonus points were big," he said. "We had a good upset win at heavyweight even though the dual was wrapped up. Christian Mays stepped up and won a match against a guy he'd never beaten before."
Three of the six Viking victories were by bonus points, two coming from returning NAIA champions Ryak Finch and Brandon Wright. Finch teched Coleman Johns at 125 pounds, while Wright matched Finch with a technical fall over Trevor Hancock at 141 pounds.
A key head-to-head Grand View victory came at 149 pounds where 2013 NAIA champion Gustavo Martinez edged returning All-American Tyler Cowger 2-1. Martinez came in ranked first, while Cowger was third in the most recent NAIA rankings.
Southern Oregon's third-ranked Dalton Urrutia defeated fifth-ranked Grant Henderson 5-3 at 157 pounds. A pair of past national champions would pick up victories at 165 and 174 as Grand View's Jimmie Schuessler, a national champion in 2013, topped Garrett Urrutia 14-4 and three-time champion Brock Gutches of Southern Oregon beat Thomas Moman 4-1.
Grand View's Christian Mays would deliver a serious blow to Southern Oregon's championship hopes with a 3-1 victory at 184 pounds. Mays converted a takedown with seven seconds left to break a 1-1 tie and defeat fourth-ranked Jake Abrams. The victory was almost enough to lock up the dual, but when Southern Oregon's Taylor Johnson only managed a major decision at 197 pounds, the championship was secured.
Grand View's Dean Broghammer finished off the dual with a 6-0 win at 285 pounds.
NJCAA
Clackamas Community College won its second straight Junior College National Duals title and third in five years with a 26-18 win over returning NJCAA champion Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
"I'm really proud of our guys. Elezar DeLuca, Kyle Bateman, Ihoghama Odighizuwa all did a fantastic job," said Clackamas Coach Josh Rhoden. "It's just fortitude and toughness. Not all of us felt good. Some of us were just grinding as hard as they could and came up short."
Clackamas jumped out to a 15-0 lead after back-to-back falls at 125 and 133 and a decision at 141 pounds. Korbin Levin of Clackamas pinned Erik Juanes at 4:02 at 125 pounds and fifth-ranked Lawrence Otero pinned Dillon McCaleb in the first period at 133.
Clackamas' Robbie Rizzolino, ranked fifth, upset second-ranked Tim O'Connor 3-2 at 141 pounds.
NEO would cut the lead to nine as 10th-ranked Dawaylon Barnes pinned No. 5 Chris Garcia in the second period at 149 pounds. Clackamas answered with wins by Elezar DeLuca at 157 and Kyle Bateman at 165 pounds to extend the Cougar lead to 22-6.
NEO would win three of the final four weights, but Clackamas' Ihoghama Odighizuwa earned an 8-0 major decision over Josh Latham at 197 pounds to ice the championship for coach Josh Rhoden's squad.
Women
King University won its second straight Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association National Duals championship with a 24-17 win over rival Oklahoma City. The Tornado, ranked No. 1 in the WCWA, won six of the 10 bouts to secure the title.
"We're proud of how we competed. OCU is tough. They've always been. They have a great program and they're always going to be competitive," said King coach Jason Moorman. "Our girls showed up.Even though we won last year, we have a lot of girls who weren't apart of that team. It's new for them and it's new for all of us. We're going to try to build on what we have and some of the losses we have."
Oklahoma City jumped out to a quick 9-1 led with a technical fall from Emily Webster at 101 pounds and a fall by Cody Pfau. The WCWA wrestles freestyle and the team scoring bouts is slightly varied from college folkstyle wrestling. Teams receive three points for a decision, four for a technical fall (10 points or more) and five for a fall. Wrestlers losing a match but scoring points will also receive one team point.
King would reel off five straight wins as Haley Augello started the run with a 14-4 technical fall over Shelby Morrison at 116 pounds. Hanna Grisewood would shut out Rachel Archer 9-0 at 123 pounds, bringing the Tornado within three.
King's Sarah Hildebrandt teched Carla Ponce 10-0 at 130 pounds to give King an 11-10 lead. Forrest Molinari knocked off OCU's Brieana Delgado 5-4 at 136 pounds to firmly put King in control.
The run finished with Amanda Hendey's 10-0 win over Kayla Aggio at 143 pounds. OCU would get within 19-14 after Demi Strub's 8-4 win over Lorrie-Ann Ramos at 155 pounds. King's Julia Salata ended any chances of an OCU comeback with a 10-0 technical fall over Yavonne Galindo at 170 pounds.
Link: Full Results
Link: Full Women's Results
DIVISION II FINAL
NO. 2 MARYVILLE 16, NO. 1 NOTRE DAME COLLEGE 15
125 - Jaret Singh (Maryville) over Jacob Goodwin (Notre Dame) SV-1 8-6
133 - Ivan McClay (Notre Dame) over Jesse Czerniewski (Maryville) Dec 7-0
141 - Maurice Miller (Notre Dame) over James Krischke (Maryville) Dec 3-2
149 - John Hagerty (Maryville) over Andrew Bannister (Notre Dame) Dec 7-3
157 - Jonatan Rivera (Notre Dame) over Greg Hegarty (Maryville) Dec 3-1
165 - Dimitri Willis (Maryville) over Louden Gordon (Notre Dame) Dec 9-7
174 - Joey Davis (Notre Dame) over Zeb Wahle (Maryville) Dec 6-5
184 - Garrett Lineberger (Notre Dame) over Nick Burghardt (Maryville) Dec 4-0
197 - Ryan Beltz (Maryville) over Garrett Linton (Notre Dame) Maj 12-4
285 - Donnell Walker (Maryville) over Logan Rimmer (Notre Dame) Dec 4-2
DIVISION III FINAL
NO. 2 WARTBURG 20, NO. 1 WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER 13
125 - Jake Agnitsch (Wartburg) over Zac Denny (Wisconsin-Whitewater) Dec 9-5
133 - Connor Campo (Wartburg) by forfeit
141 - Matt Adcock (Wisconsin-Whitewater) over Kaz Onoo (Wartburg) SV-1 10-6
149 - Kenneth Martin (Wartburg) over Elroy Perkin (Wisconsin-Whitewater) Dec 4-3
157 - Tom Gerszewski (Wisconsin-Whitewater) over Drew Wagenhoffer (Wartburg) Dec 5-2
165 - Andrew Steiert (Wartburg) over Tyler Becker (Wisconsin-Whitewater) Dec 11-4
174 - Brandon Welter (Wartburg) over Jordan Newman (Wisconsin-Whitewater) Dec 5-3
184 - Ryan Aprahamian (Wisconsin-Whitewater) over Devin Peterson (Wartburg) Dec 9-7
197 - Shane Siefert (Wisconsin-Whitewater) over Bryan Levsen (Wartburg) Maj 11-2
285 - Benjamin Nagle (Wartburg) over Anthony Edgren (Wisconsin-Whitewater) Dec 5-2
NAIA FINAL
NO. 1 GRAND VIEW 23, NO. 2 SOUTHERN OREGON 13
125 - Ryak Finch (Grand View) over Coleman Johns (Southern Oregon) TF 18-3
133 - Devin Poppen (Southern Oregon) over jacob colon (Grand View) Dec 14-8
141 - Brandon Wright (Grand View) over Trevor Hancock (Southern Oregon) TF 24-9
149 - Gustavo Martinez (Grand View) over Tyler Cowger (Southern Oregon) Dec 2-1
157 - Dalton Urrutia (Southern Oregon) over Grant Henderson (Grand View) Dec 3-1
165 - Jimmie Schuessler (Grand View) over Garrett Urrutia (Southern Oregon) Maj 14-4
174 - Brock Gutches (Southern Oregon) over Thomas Moman (Grand View) Dec 4-1
184 - Christian Mays (Grand View) over Jacob Abrams (Southern Oregon) Dec 3-1
197 - Taylor Johnson (Southern Oregon) over Derrick Hawkins (Grand View) Maj 10-2
285 - Dean Broghammer (Grand View) over Clayton Burtis (Southern Oregon) Dec 6-0
NJCAA FINAL
NO. 1 CLACKAMAS 26, NO. 2 NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA A&M 18
125 - Korbin Levin (Clackamas) over Erik Juanes (Northeastern Okla A&M) Fall 4:02
133 - Lawrence Otero (Clackamas) over Dillon McCaleb (Northeastern Okla A&M) Fall 1:15
141 - Robert Rizzolino (Clackamas) over Timothy O`Connor (Northeastern Okla A&M) Dec 3-2
149 - Dawaylon Barnes (Northeastern Okla A&M) over Christopher Garcia (Clackamas) Fall 4:04
157 - Eleazar DeLuca (Clackamas) over Kristian Holguin-Mendez (Northeastern Okla A&M) Dec 9-6
165 - Kyle Bateman (Clackamas) over Austin Allen (Northeastern Okla A&M) Maj 10-2
174 - Jacobe Smith (Northeastern Okla A&M) over Dylan Reel (Clackamas) SV-1 9-7
184 - Brock Warren (Northeastern Okla A&M) over Adrian Salas (Clackamas) Fall 4:14
197 - Ihoghama Odighizuwa (Clackamas) over Josh Latham (Northeastern Okla A&M) Maj 8-0
285 - John Davison (Northeastern Okla A&M) over John Morin (Clackamas) Dec 9-8
WOMEN'S FINAL
KING 24, OKLAHOMA CITY 17
101 - Emily Webster (Oklahoma City) over Marina Doi (King) TF 13-2
109 - Cody Pfau (Oklahoma City) over Breonnah Neal (King) Fall 1:42
116 - Haley Augello (King) over Shelby Morrisson (Oklahoma City) TF 14-4
123 - Hanna Grisewood (King) over Rachel Archer (Oklahoma City) Dec 9-0
130 - Sarah Hildebrandt (King) over Carla Ponce (Oklahoma City) TF 10-0
136 - Forrest Molinari (King) over Brieana Delgado (Oklahoma City) Dec 5-4
143 - Amanda Hendey (King) over Kayla Aggio (Oklahoma City) TF 10-0
155 - Demi Strub (Oklahoma City) over Lorrie-Ann Ramos (King) Dec 8-4
170 - Julia Salata (King) over Yavonne Galindo (Oklahoma City) TF 10-0
191 - Heather O`Conner (Oklahoma City) over Jackie Williams (King) Dec 8-0
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About National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA)
The National Wrestling Coaches Association, established in 1928, is a non-profit organization for the advancement of all levels of the sport of wrestling with a primary emphasis on developing coaches who work in academic environments. The membership embraces all people interested in amateur wrestling. The three core competencies of the NWCA are: coaching development, student-athlete welfare, and the promotion of wrestling.
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