Nebraska-Kearney holds off rivals to claim NCAA DII Championships team title

The team race for the NCAA Division II national championship went down to the wire on Saturday night.

Day two in Sioux Falls opened with five teams in contention for the title. Nebraska-Kearney held the lead, but four others were within 4.5 points. Rival Central Oklahoma went 2-1 in the semifinals and picked up a bonus point win in the consolation quarterfinals to keep pace with UNK and emerge from the pack as the second-place team.

In the consolation semifinals, UCO went 2-0 while UNK dropped all three of their matches to bring the Bronchos within seven points of the Lopers going into the medal matches. Both teams won a placement match, and the round ended with UNK in first place with 79 points, Wisconsin Parkside in second place with 73, and UCO in third place with 72.

UNK had three finalists, UCO had two, and Wisconsin-Parkside had one. A win in the finals is worth an additional four placement points. There were some additional bonus point scenarios, but the equation for the team title was relatively straightforward. UNK just needed one win to take home the team title. Wisconsin Parkside could tie UNK with a fall in its final, with UNK losing all three of theirs, and with UCO only winning one final. And UCO could best UNK by winning both its finals, as long as UNK lost all three of theirs.

Shane Corrigan picked up a win and a major decision for Wisconsin-Parkside in the 125-pound match to extend their second-place lead on UCO and get within one of Nebraska-Kearney.

In other early finals, Jacob Strausbaugh (Umary) defeated James Joplin (Lander) 5-3 at 133, Ronan Schuelke (McKendree) beat Khyvon Grace (West Liberty) 5-2 in tie breakers, and Cody Thompson (Colo. Sch. Of Mines) beat Matthew Sarbo (Pitt-Johnstown) 5-0.

The premier match of the night came at 157 with Central Oklahoma’s two-time champion Gabe Johnson taking on Joel Jesuroga from Saint Cloud State. The pair had split their first two meetings with Johnson winning in the national finals last year and Jesuroga winning during last year's regular season. They had not yet met this year. The two were scoreless in the first period with Jesuroga taking bottom to start the second period. Jesuroga got a relatively quick escape, and Johnson did the same in the third. The match went to overtime, tied 1-1. There was no score on their feet, then Johnson used a stingy early ride and quick escape to win in tiebreakers. This brought the Bronchos within three points of Nebraska-Kearney.

The next three-time champ was crowned at 165 with Lander’s David Hunsberger over Nebraska Kerney’s Trenton Munoz. Hunsberger used two first-period takedowns to put six on the board. Munoz responded with a full second-period ride, then got an escape in the third to get within three. Hunsberger got another takedown and went up 9-3. Munoz was able to get another escape, but Hunsberger went on to a 9-4 decision and his third NCAA title.

With UNK’s loss at 165, Hunter Jump (UCO) and Otgonbayar Batsuuri (UNK) met at 174 in a match with the team title potentially on the line. Batsuuri got the first takedown with an explosive shot in the first period. Jump nearly responded with one of his own, but was unable to finish on the edge, and the match went to the second period with Batsuuri up 3-1. Batsuuri took bottom, a spot he’d struggled in against Jump in previous matches and was able to get a quick escape to make it 4-1. Jump took neutral in the third and was unable to get any offense going. After a late attempt at an arm spin from Jump, Batsuuri got another takedown and won the match 7-3, locking up the team title for the Lopers.

At 184, Darion Johson picked up a tech fall for McKendree to jump them into third place as a team over UCO. At 197, Max Ramberg (Augustana) picked up an NCAA title in front of his home crowd with a 4-2 decision over Nicholas Johnson (Glenville State). At HWT, Dorian Crosby (Gannon) picked up an OT takedown to become Gannon’s second-ever NCAA Champion.

Final brackets and archived matches from this event are available at FloWrestling.com.