Four members of the New York University Wrestling Team have qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships based on their performances on Sunday, February 27, at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. The two-day competition was held at Springfield College in Springfield, MA.
Trent Furman (157),
Cooper Pontelandolfo (165) and
Jason Geyer (184) all won the semifinal matches of their respective brackets on Sunday, while
Matt Kelly (197) won his third-place match. All three semifinal winners lost their championship matches. However, the top three finishers at each weight class earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Championships, which are being held Thursday-Saturday, March 10-12, in Cedar Rapids, IA.
"Having a year off from wrestling (due to Covid-19) wasn't easy," Furman revealed. "As a team, we faced a lot of adversity. But, getting your hand raised with my teammates makes everything that went on from October to now worth it."
Kelly earned the fourth ticket when he recorded a 10-2 major decision over Tommy Wrzesien of Johnson & Wales University. Kelly had dropped his semifinal bout in a close 2-1 decision to Travis Arata of Roger Williams University. But, his dominant performance in the third-place match gave NYU a program-record-tying fourth qualifier for the sixth time in their last seven attempts.
Will Ortman (285) also reached the third-place match, but was defeated in double overtime (4-2) and finished fourth in the bracket.
Also placing at the championship were
Nick Kruczynski (133) and
Izaake Zuckerman (174), both posting seventh-place finishes in their respective weight classes.
Overall as a team, NYU totaled 102 points and finished in third place. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy (166.5) and Johnson & Wales University (163.5) finished first and second, respectively.
"Though we fell short of winning our first Regional title, credit goes to Coast Guard who put together a great tournament run," said Senior Assistant Coach
Corey Luce. "The silver lining is that we secured four spots at the NCAA Championships and I think our guys have what it takes to make some noise out there."
