Two New York University wrestlers have qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships following their strong performances at the NCAA Regionals for Region III, which were held on Friday and Saturday, February 28 - March 1, in Mechanicsburg, PA.

Cooper Pontelandolfo will be heading to Nationals for the fourth consecutive season after clinching the 157-pound title following a finals victory over Jason Rezac of Alvernia University by major decision (17-8). In the semifinals, he claimed a win over Xavier Howard of McDaniel College via technical fall (15-0).

Jacob Venezia also secured a spot at nationals following a win by fall (5:00) over Jacob Blair of Deleware Valley University in the semifinals. Venezia finished second in the 133-pound class following a loss by fall against Garett Totten of The College of New Jersey in the finals.

Several Violets still placed despite not clinching a spot in the championships.

Harrison Gordon (125) finished in fourth-place, following a defeat against Malik Asfour of Delaware Valley in the third-place match. Similarly, Trent Furman (184) finished fourth following an overtime loss against Ryder Slayton of host Messiah University. 

Also placing for the Violets were Tyler Kadish (141, 5th), Vincenzo Napolitana (149, 7th), and Nicky Bell (174, 6th).

The Violets finished in fourth place among the 18 teams with a final score of 115.5.

"It was a tough day over all —we fell short in a lot of matches." said Associate Head Coach Corey Luce. "When expectations are high as ours and you don't live up to them, it's a difficult page to turn. Focus now is to get both Jake and Cooper on the podium in Rhode Island."

Pontelandolfo and Venezia will be representing NYU at the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, March 14-15, in Providence, RI.