LA CROSSE (WI) – Delaware Valley College senior 149-pounder Zak Andrews placed fifth for the second year in a row while classmate Charlie Frankel took eighth at 125 pounds as both earned All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships hosted by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.  

Delaware Valley finshed tied for 16th in the team standings as it notched 23.5 points in the tournament. Wartburg College of Iowa crowned four individual champions and ran away with its third straight national championship.

Andrews and Frankel upped the total of Delaware Valley wrestling All-Americans to 69 and it marks the 17th year in a row that the Aggies put at least one wrestler on the podium for a top eight finish at nationals. It also marked the fifth consecutive year that Delaware Valley has crowned multiple All-Americans.

Fellow senior and 133-pounder Eric McCann was also a national qualifier for the Aggies, but was eliminated from the tournament on Friday evening. 

Andrews became the 20th Aggie wrestler to finish in the top eight multiple times and he fittingly capped his standout four years with a pin, the 66th of his career. It came against unseeded Drew Wagenhoffer of Wartburg 4:04 into the placement match. Andrews, the third seed, fell behind early as he did in every match in the tournament. This time, he was down 4-1 before a reversal late in the first made it a one-point contest. Andrews took the down position to start the second and reversed Wagenhoffer 25 seconds in. Less than 40 seconds later, he had the fall. Andrews finished the year with a 31-5 record while his 117 career victories (117-33) placed him fourth on the Delaware Valley all-time list.

Andrews began Saturday's action with a championship semifinal meeting with second-seeded and undefeated Anthony Dattolo of Wilkes University. It was the second meeting in two weeks between them as Dattolo registered a 7-5 victory in the Metropolitan Conference championship finals on February 26.

The two went at each other right away on Saturday morning with Dattolo taking an early 4-2 lead as Andrews had a reversal on a Dattolo takedown, but Dattolo got a reversal right back. Andrews escaped but Dattolo came back with a takedown and a two-point near fall for an 8-3 advantage. Andrews picked up a late escape for an 8-4 score after one period of action. Andrews got away from Dattolo again at the start of the second, but Dattolo answered with another takedown and a 10-5 lead.

However, Andrews, who battled back from two deficits and registered pins on Friday to reach the semis, nearly did it again. He picked up an escape with 1:06 left in the second to trail by just four. Then with 24 seconds remaining, Andrews made a move and put Dattolo in trouble. The takedown made it 10-8 and he was close to pinning Dattolo as well. Dattolo was able to survive the period, but Andrews was credited with three points for a near fall and his first lead of the match at 11-10.

Dattolo chose the down position to start and Andrews had to hold him for at least 10 seconds to erase the riding time that Dattolo had accumulated that would have given him an extra point at the end. Andrews did that and more as he still had Dattolo down with 30 seconds to go. However, Dattolo was able to reverse Andrews with 19 ticks remaining and Andrews could not escape before time out as Dattolo picked up the 12-11 victory to improve to 33-0 and grab a spot in the finals.

The loss dropped Andrews into the consolation semifinals against top-seeded and two-time national runner-up Tony Valek of Augsburg. Valek notched a pair of near falls, en route to a 15-2 major decision victory. However, Andrews bounced back and ended his career with the pin in the fifth place match.

Frankel began Saturday in the consolation quarterfinals against a fellow unseeded wrestler, Ben Presler of Concordia Moorhead. Frankel who struck first with a takedown 62 seconds in, but Presler followed with an escape and a takedown for a one-point lead. Presler added a takedown and a near fall for a 7-2 lead after two, and ended the match with another takedown and riding time for a 10-2 major decision over Frankel.

That dropped Frankel into the seventh-eighth place match against unseeded Paul Bewak of Johns Hopkins. After a scoreless opening three minutes, Bewah picked up three points with a near fall in the second. Bewak added a reversal, a two-point near fall and riding time for the 8-0 victory.

Despite the losses on Saturday, Frankel finished with the best season of his four-year career. He notched a 26-11 record, his first Metropolitan Conference title and an eighth-place finish and All-American status on his first trip to the NCAAs.

Friday's action saw Andrews opened against Joseph Hauser of Oneonta State in a rematch of an earlier meeting this season (Andrews earned a 3-2 decision in January). Hauser picked up a takedown 35 seconds in and then had added two more for a near-fall. Andrews was in danger of getting pinned, but he reversed it and suddenly had Hauser on his back. The referred called the pin at the 73-second mark to put Andrews in the quarterfinals against sixth-seeded Cameryn Brady of Manchester.

Andrews was in trouble again as he trailed 8-0 (takedown and two, three-point near falls) and was twice close to being pinned. Right after the second near-fall, Andrews reversed Brady and locked him in. Ten ticks later and with 48 seconds left in the opening period, he had his the pin and the win.

Frankel's first-ever NCAA championship match was against the top seed at 125 in Nathan Fitzenreider of North Central. Frankel was down 2-0 when Fitzenreider picked up the fall with 57 seconds remaining in the first period. That dropped Frankel into the consolation bracket and he needed three wins to claim a spot on Saturday's podium.

Frankel advanced through round one as Michael Fleck of Wilkes, who Frankel pinned earlier in the year, had to default because of an injury. He then took on seventh-seeded Timothy Hood (Cornell) and the two were tied at 2-2 after the opening period. Hood chose the down position to start the second, but Frankel quickly put him on his back and notched the pin just 15 seconds into the period. In the third round of consolations, Frankel faced fourth-seeded Riki Reynolds of Mount Union and Frankel had a 3-0 lead after two periods thanks to an escape and a takedown. It remained that way until the closing seconds when Reynolds got a takedown. He let Frankel up, but time expired as Frankel picked up the 4-2 triumph.

McCann was unseeded and drew a first-round bye in the 133-pound bracket. He hit the mat against fifth-seeded Jake Fredricksen (Wisconsin-Whitewater) and was up 1-0 after a second-period escape. Fredricksen got an early escape in the third and went ahead 3-1 with a takedown with 1:07 remaining. McCann got an escape in the closing seconds, but Fredricksen had riding time as well for a 4-2 decision.

McCann's run at the NCAA tournament came to end in the second round of consolations (bye in the first) with a 10-1 loss to No. 4 Darron Hohbein of Concordia-Moorehead. McCann, who missed all of last season with an injury, finished his senior campaign with a 23-10 record, his first Metropolitan Conference crown and his first trip to the NCAAs.
 

HOW DELAWARE VALLEY COLLEGE WRESTLERS FARED
149 pounds – Zak Andrews (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) – Seeded 3rd out of 16 wrestlers
Championship First Round (Friday): Won by fall over Joseph Hauser (Oneonta State), 1:13
Championship Quarterfinals (Friday): Won by fall over #6 Cameryn Brady (Manchester), 2:12
Championship Semifinals (Saturday): Lost by decision to #2 Anthony Dattolo (Wilkes), 12-11
Consolation Semifinals (Saturday): Lost by major decision to #1 Tony Valek (Augsburg), 15-2
Fifth-Sixth Place Match (Saturday): Won by fall over Drew Wagenhoffer (Wartburg), 4:04
- Andrews finished in fifth place and earned All-American honors for the second year in a row. The senior notched a 31-5 record on the year and finished in fourth place in school history with 117 career wins (117-31), including 66 pins. -

125 pounds – Charlie Frankel (Morganville, NJ/Marlboro) – Unseeded out of 20 wrestlers
Championship First Round (Friday): Lost by fall to #1 Nathan Fitzenreider (North Central), 2:03
Consolation First Round (Friday): Won by injury default over Michael Fleck (Wilkes)
Consolation Second Round (Friday): Won by fall over #7 Timothy Hood (Cornell), 3:16
Consolation Third Round (Friday): Won by decision over #4 Riki Reynolds (Mount Union), 4-2
Consolation Quarterfinals (Saturday): Lost by maj. decision to Ben Presler (Concordia-Moorhead), 10-2
Seventh-Eighth Place Match (Saturday): Lost by major decision to Paul Bewak (Johns Hopkins), 8-0
- Frankel, a senior, finished in eighth place for his first All-American accolade. He finished the year with a 26-11 record and his career with a 67-36 mark. -

133 pounds – Eric McCann (Hatfield, PA/Pennridge) – Unseeded out of 18 wrestlers
Championship First Round: Bye
Championship Second Round: Lost by decision to #5 Jake Fredricksen (Wisc-Whitewater), 4-2
Consolation First Round: Bye
Consolation Second Round: Lost by maj. decision to #4 Darron Hohbein (Concordia Moorhead), 10-1
- McCann, a senior, finished the year with a 23-10 record, his first Metropolitan Conference title and his first trip to the NCAA Championships. -