NCAA Championship Website
LA CROSSE, Wis. – A pair of Elmhurst College wrestlers have secured All-America honors after the conclusion of the first day of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. The Bluejays' Joe Rau and Dalton Bullard have both earned All-America accolades and will be competing in tomorrow's consolation bracket for third place.Rau posted a 2-1 record on the day at 184 pounds. Seeded second on the day, he opened by making short work of Merchant Marine's Erik Schott. Ra scored a takedown in less than 10 seconds and overpowered Schott once the two grapplers were one the mat. Rau finished the match by pinning Schott in just 59 seconds.
Rau blanked Buena Vista's Brian Broll 4-0 in the consolation match to secure his second consecutive All-America honor. Rau will face Wabash's Greg Rhoads in tomorrow morning's consolation quarterfinal.
Wrestling at 133 pounds, Dalton Bullard suffered a 5-3 decision in the opening round to Jordan Westfall of Coe College. Westfall raced out to an early 5-2 cushion. An escape by Bullard in the third period cut the deficit to two points, but Westfall fought off Bullard's take down attempts to earn the 5-3 victory.
Bullard bounced back from the loss by winning three straight matches to claim the first All-America honor of his career. He started by dispatching Ohio Northern's Jeremy Jones in the first round of the consolation bracket. Bullard scored a takedown in the first round and then did all his work on the match, scoring repeated near falls before earning a 16-0 win by technical fall. He opened the night session with a 16-4 major decision over Cornell's Tigue Snider. Bullard leaped out to a 5-2 lead after one period and scored near fall points in the second to take a commanding 11-2 victory. He tacked on five more points in the third period en route to the 16-4 victory. Facing UW-Whitewater's Jake Fredricksen in an elimination match, Bullard scored an opening round takedown and pinned the number five seed in 1:45.
Three Elmhurst wrestlers came up win one shy of earning All-America status.
Jake Denhof dropped his opening round match at 141 pounds to York's Chris Albright. Trailing 6-2 in the second period, Denhof was pinned by Albright in 4:49. Denhof bounced back from the loss by scoring a 10-8 overtime victory over Rhode Island College's Shawn Giblin. Using a pair of takedowns and near falls, Denhof opened up an 8-4 cushion entering the third period. Giblin scored a takedown and then registered a pair of near fall points to send the match into overtime. In the extra period, Denhof wrapped up both legs and drove Giblin to the mat to earn the victory. Denhof was eliminated from the tournament after being pinned by Augsburg's Will Keeter in the consolation round.
At 149 pounds, Ryan Earley fell behind to Manchester's Cameryn Brady 4-1 after the first period. Brady upped his lead to 8-2 in the third period and ended the match when he was able to lift Early and pin the Elmhurst grappler in 6:43.
Earley toppled Oneonta State's Joseph Hauser 8-6 in his first match of the consolation round. Earley opened up a 7-3 cushion after two periods by scoring a pair of takedowns and a near fall. Hauser scored an escape and a takedown in the third period, but riding time gave Earley the two-point win. Facing Coe's James Locke in an elimination match, Early scored a first round takedown to go up 2-0. Locke earned an escape in the first round and scored an escape point in the second to knot the match. Starting from the top position in the third period, Locke rode out the entire period to score a riding time point and earn a 3-2 win.
Brian Brooks opened the tournament with a 4-2 loss to Centenary's Joseph Zitone at 285 pounds. Brooks struck first with a takedown in the opening period and nearly had Zitone on his back, but Zitone earned a point with an escape. Brooks led 2-1 after the first period, but Zitone started with an escape point in the second period to knot the match and then hit a takedown near the end of the second to get the decisive points. After earning a bye in the opening round of the consolation bracket, Brooks suffered a 1-0 loss to Wartburg's Ryan Fank. Neither wrestler was able to earn a takedown with Fank scoring the only point after a neutral cover.
Elmhurst wrapped up the first day of the NCAA Championships with 17.5 points, currently sitting in 13th place in the team standings. The second day of the NCAA Tournament will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday (March 10).
