KEARNEY, Neb. -- The second-ranked Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team won the 2014 NCAA Central Regional and qualified six individuals for nationals Saturday afternoon in Edmond, Okla.
UNK, two-time defending national champions, tallied 106.5 points to beat 8th-ranked Lindenwood (199.5), 3rd-ranked St. Cloud State (99), 15th-ranked Fort Hays State (89), 17th-ranked Ouachita Baptist, Ark. (85) and 4th-ranked Central Oklahoma (83) in a very competitive 17-team race.
The Central Region, arguably the nation's toughest, sends the top five finishers in each weight class to the NCAA Championships March 14-15 in Cleveland.
With so much competition, the teams beat each other up the past two days. Lindenwood (seven) has the most national qualifiers followed by the Lopers and SCSU with six a piece and then four schools (Hays, UCO, OBU and Upper Iowa) each with five.
Three other regionals are being held around the country this weekend; there's a good chance No. 1 College of Notre Dame (Ohio), No. 5 Newberry, S.C. and several others will have seven or more national qualifiers.
Defending national champion Daniel DeShazer (133 lbs.), defending national runner up Romero Cotton (197 lbs.) and senior Patrick Martinez (174 lbs.) won their respective weight classes with senior Mark Fiala (184 lbs.) coming in second.
Also heading to Cleveland will be seniors Brock Coutu (141 lbs.) and Brock Smith (165 lbs.), who each finished fourth.
After sophomore Connor Bolling (125 lbs.) was eliminated yesterday, three more Lopers saw their 2013-14 seasons come to an end today.
Senior Kelsey Empting (285 lbs.) and sophomore Chase White (157 lbs.) lost in consolation third round matches with redshirt freshman Destin McCauley (149 lbs.) falling in the fifth place bout, one win shy of a nationals trip.
Martinez (Hemet, Calif.), ranked fourth nationally, is 21-1 after going 5-0 this weekend. Having two majors and a tech fall, he beat Josh Rodriguez of Hays, 4-2, to earn his first regional title.
Two classes higher, the top-ranked Cotton (Hutchinson, Kans.) had a showdown with 2nd-ranked Carl Broghammer of Upper Iowa in the 197 lbs. finals.
In a de facto national championship match, Cotton managed to win by a 5-3 score, giving Broghammer just his third defeat in 41 matches. Now 19-3, Cotton slipped past 7th-ranked Tanner Kriss of Hays, 4-3, in the semis.
Fiala (Seward) upset the third and fourth ranked individuals at 184 lbs. but couldn't get past Jon Inman of Hays in the finals, 7-3. He is now 32-15 on the year and tied with Bolling for the team lead in wins.
Ranked No. 1 thanks to the only two wins over UCO's Chris Watson this year, Smith (Gering) fell to Watson in the 165 lbs. semis, 7-4. After a key win over a St. Cloud wrestler, he lost to Central Missouri's Ty Loethen, 9-7, for third place.
Falls were the order of the day for Coutu (Griswold, Conn.). He secured a trip to nationals with a 1:41 pin of UIU's Jordan Roths but both of his setbacks came by fall, the last being to OBU's Josh Myers in the third place match.
McCauley (No. Sioux City, S.D.) reached the 149 lbs. semis but lost to the second, fourth and fifth ranked wrestlers in the country in succession. One of those setbacks came in sudden victory, 5-3, to Lindenwood's Terrel Wilbourn.
Finally, DeShazer (Wichita) won a rematch of last year's 133 lbs. national title match with SCSU's Andy Pokorny and then defeated 7th-ranked Josh Rodriguez of OBU to win.
SCSU heavyweight Austin Goergen won the Most Falls, Least Time Award (three/3:04) with UCM 149-pounder Frank Cagnina named the M.O.W.
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