ASHLAND, Ohio – Truman wrestlers Ryan Maus and Colton Schmitz have punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships by placing in the top four of their respective weight classes at this weekend’s Super Regional held at Ashland (Ohio) University. Maus was the runner-up at 149 and Schmitz was fourth at 157.
Maus joins an elite company of Bulldog Wrestlers with his third straight trip to the national meet. Since the program’s inception in 1968, only seven Bulldogs have earned a national meet spot three or four times in their collegiate career.
Seeded third in the 149-pound weight class, Maus won a pair of matches on Saturday to move to the regional finals. He won by fall over Findlay (Ohio) Jan Steven at the 4:37 mark in his opening match and then punched his ticket with a 10-0 major victory over Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) University’s Marc Smith.
Maus squared off against top-seeded Jordan Basks of Central Oklahoma in the finals. Basks won the previous two meetings with Maus 2-1 in overtime and 4-1 in the MIAA championships. In the third match between the two, it was Basks that came away with a narrow 6-4 decision in the championship match.
Schmitz will be making his first trip to the national meet after placing fourth in the 157-pound weight class. Schmitz won his first match by pin but then dropped a 6-5 decision to #2 Bobby Williams of Ouachita Baptist (Ark.). Schmitz bounced back with a 3-1 decision over King (Tenn.) College’s Jeremy Miller and advanced to the consolation semis with a 9-1 major over Jordan Cowell of Findlay (Ohio).
Schmitz opened Sunday with a match against fourth-seeded Jeremy Bommarito of Limestone (W.Va.). The Bulldog junior pulled out a 4-2 victory but then lost the third place match to Lake Erie (Pa.) College’s Zach Vargo by the same 4-2 score.
Bommarito won the fifth place match over Williams to keep Schmitz from having to have a challenge match for the true fourth place spot. Since Schmitz defeated Bommarito, Schmitz goes to nationals, if Williams had prevailed in the fifth place match, they would have had a challenge match for the place since Williams defeated Schmitz earlier in the tournament.
The NCAA Division II Championships will take place March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala. as part of the NCAA Winter Sports Festival.
The other Bulldogs that have gone to nationals three-plus times are: Merrick Meyer (02,03,04,05), Brad Kiefer (97,99,00), Karega Scott (95,96,97,98), George Simmons (68,69,71), Curd Alexander (69,69,70) and Rich Beard (68,69,70).
The Bulldogs finished eighth as a team with 37 points while Notre Dame (Ohio) won the team title with 142 points, edging out Central Oklahoma (140 points).
In other performances, Alex Maus lost his opener to #2 Maurice Miller of Notre Dame (Ohio) 4-1 but came back to defeat Thomas McVicker by fall, his Bulldog career would come to an end with a narrow 3-2 loss to third-seeded Joseph White of Findlay (Ohio).
Dustin McClintlock and Ryan Ward advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective weight class only to drop matches late Saturday night to end their season.
Courtesy: Truman State University
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