GRANTHAM (PA) – Delaware Valley College juniors David Davidson (141) and Aaron Karns (197) captured individual titles as the Aggies finished third out of six teams at the 2014 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championships at Messiah College.

It was the first time since 2006 that the MAC Championships took place in wrestling. Back then, the schools voted to discontinue it as they split to various regional championships in order to qualify more wrestlers for nationals. Once the NCAA realigned Division III wrestling into six regional qualifying tournaments with just the top three finishers (and no wild-card entries) going to nationals, the schools voted to reinstate the conference championship.

Delaware Valley, which has won 14 MAC titles in its history including the final five from 2002 to 2006, racked up 93.5 points on Saturday. That was just one point behind sixth-ranked Wilkes University for the runner-up spot. Eighth-ranked Messiah captured its first MAC crown in wrestling with 102.5 points. Elizabethtown College (60 points), King's College (42 points) and Lycoming College (4 points) rounded out the field.

Davidson and Karns were the top seeds and they put themselves on the top of the podiums in their respective weight classes. They led the Aggie roster (up to 20 wrestlers were allowed to compete at the championships) that saw 10 place in the top four including runner-ups Connor Kirkegard (133), Sekou Harris (141), Vinny Fava (149), Emmanuel Ajagbe (257) and Zach Roseberry (285). Zac Haynes (125), Alec Horan (165) and Mike Boardman (285) each finished fourth.

Davidson went 4-0 with a pin, a major decision and two decisions to improve his record to 20-7 on the year. He opened with a 15-4 major decision over Jacob Younger of Messiah and dropped Kevin Aspril of Elizabethtown with one second left in the first period (2:59). He reached the finals with a 10-6 triumph over Ryan Smith of Wilkes. Davidson met his teammate Harris, seeded third, in the final and edged him with a 3-2 decision.

Karns, a returning All-American who is ranked seventh nationally, in the latest coaches' poll, had a bye followed by a pin, a major decision and a decision to give him 19 wins in 22 matches this season. He dropped Kelly Pullen of Wilkes in 4:34 of their quarterfinal match and followed with an 11-0 blanking of Jason Wright (Messiah) in the semifinals. A 5-1 triumph over third-seeded Ben Kramer of Messiah gave Karns the MAC title.

Kirkegard (9-6) reached the 133-pound finals thanks to a pin of Ryan Harter of Elizabethtown and a 2-0 shutout over third-seeded Kyle Coblentz of Messiah. He met the fourth seed, Chad Lammer of Elizabethtown in the title bout and dropped a 3-1 decision.

Harris (8-7) defeated Brandon Virgilio of Elizabethtown, 3-1, and then earned 4-1 decision over second-seeded Pankil Chandler of Wilkes in the semifinals. His one-point loss to Davidson still resulted in Harris going to the podium.

Fava took his 17-1 record into the MACs and he was the second seed behind nationally-ranked Mark Hartenstine of Wilkes (sixth). Fava pinned Chris Pauzer of Elizabethtown in 2:10 and notched 3-1 decision over Christian Mazzocchi of King's to set up the showdown with Hartenstine. Only one point was scored in the finals and that was by Hartenstine for the win.

Ajagbe, a returning All-American, was the second seed at 157 and he had an 18-2 technical fall victory over Keith Wanamaker of King's and an 8-1 triumph over Ben Wise of Messiah. That put him in the finals against returning All-Amerian Kristopher Krawchuk of Wilkes and Krawchuk came away with a 13-4 major decision victory over Ajagbe (10-4).

Roseberry (15-5) was the third seed at heavyweight and he reached the finals with a 10-4 decision over Nicholas Dawson of Wilkes and a 7-3 victory over second-seeded William Fletcher of Wilkes. In the title bout, Roseberry was pinned by top-seeded Jeremy Reich of Elizabethtown with just 13 second left.

Haynes, ranked fifth nationally, ran his record to 11-7 on the season with his fourth-place showing. Horan went 2-2 to up his mark to 14-7 while Boardman's fourth-place finish saw him go to 10-7 on the year.