No. 1 Wartburg holds early lead at Div. III Nationals, five points ahead of Messiah

Trevor Engle of Cornell scores the winning takedown against top-seeded Derek Arnold of Ursinus a first-round match at 149 pounds Friday at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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CEDAR RAPIDS -- Coach Eric Keller has been around NCAA Division III wrestling long enough that seeing upsets in the first session don't surprise him.


"You've got to be ready to go," Keller, the coach of tournament favorite Wartburg, said. "It doesn't matter who is standing across the line from you, you'd better be ready to go and fight your butt off. That's what it comes down to. You don't overlook anybody. You don't take anybody for granted. You can't."


Nineteen seeded wrestlers lost in the preliminary and first rounds, and big names fell at a surprising rate Friday at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at the U.S. Cellular Center. Three top seeds, including a defending national champion, and one other returning champion dropped into the consolations after getting beaten early.


Despite suffering one of those losses, Wartburg held the early lead with 17.5 points. Messiah was second with 12.5, followed by Wartburg's northeast Iowa Lutheran rival, Luther, with 11. Wabash (9.5) and defending champion Augsburg (9.0) rounded out the top five. Coe, Elmhurst and Stevens Institute of Technology were tied for sixth with 6 points, and Alma and York each had 5.5.


Bonus points keyed Wartburg's charge to the top. In winning eight of 10 matches, the Knights recorded three pins, one injury default and one major decision.


"Stressing that more and trying to keep guys to picking it up," Keller said. "We missed some opportunities there in that round. ... You've got to put points up. You've got get bonus points."


Just keeping the top wrestlers on the mat was a challenge at times.


One defending national champion who survived an overtime match, Joe Giaramita of SUNY-Cortland, said it wasn't easy coming in with that pressure.


"It's tough, but I've got to come in with the same mentality I had last year, take it one match at a time," he said.


"It's my last year here; I want to finish out on top. But everybody comes here with the same mindset. They want to be on top of the podium. It all comes down to who wants it more."


Tyler Maher of Stevens set the tone for the session in the pigtail matches when he beat eighth-seeded James Buss 5-1 at heavyweight. Buss won the 2014 national title for Loras and then transferred to Millikin this season after sitting out last year.


Wartburg 133-pounder Connor Campo was the first top seed to fall. Eric Velez of Brockport broke a 4-4 tie with a third-period takedown and defeated Campo 9-5 in the first round at 133 pounds.


"That loss at 133 really hurt us," Keller said.


Velez had to change his approach a bit going against Campo, who usually drops to one or two knees on the mat.


"That's not usually my style, but when I seen the bracket I noticed I had him," Velez said. "I worked out like that the whole week with heavier people, low stance, and it worked. I got the job done."


Moments later, Trevor Engle of tournament host Cornell scored a takedown with three seconds left to beat top seed Derek Arnold of Ursinus 7-5 at 149.


"I kept tying to get that go-behind, but he kept catching my arm on the right," said Engle, who trailed 5-4 but had enough riding time to score the tying point and force overtime if needed. "I would have to come back out, snap him down and try it again. I knew if I kept doing that like I did in practice, eventually he'd go down or turn away and I'd get my two."


The final top seed to fall was defending national champion Farai Sewera of Coe, whose campus is just eight blocks from the U.S. Cellular Center. After recording a quick pin in the preliminaries, Sewera found himself in a much tougher match in the first round.


He led Connor Brummett of Wabash 4-3 heading into the final minute, but Brummett took him down and then rode out the final half minute or so to hold on for a 5-4 win.


"I got a front head, got a little lazy (and) came up to the hip and he almost hipped out, but I ended up finishing it in my favor," Brummett said.


"My coaches said, 'You're the man; nobody can hang with you for seven minutes,' They just had to get me to believe I could do it. I owe a big win to them."


Giaramita almost joined Sewera and Buss in the wrestlebacks. His match at 197 against Malcolm Watson of Loras went to the overtime tiebreaker tied at 1-1. Watson was riding in the first tiebreaker when he slipped off Giaramita, who turned it into a reversal for a 3-1 lead. Watson escaped in the second 30-second session, but Giaramita countered a shot for a takedown that made it 5-2 on his way to the 5-3 win.


"I've got to be ready to be in those situations the whole tournament, so it's a good learning process," Giaramita said. "I had confidence in my training and abilities, so I knew I was going to come out on top."


Buss was eliminated in the consolation pigtails, and Arnold almost suffered the same fate. He survived to win 9-8 in an overtime tiebreaker against Wisconsin-Whitewater's Isaiah Vela.


Among other seeds to lose in the first round were No. 4 Nick Herring of the College of New Jersey at 165 and second-seeded Christopher Chorzepa of Williams at 184.


The only weight in which all eight seeds survived was 197.

DIV. III BRACKETS ON TRACK WRESTLING