LEXINGTON (VA) – Delaware Valley University junior heavyweight Zach Roseberry captured his third East Regional title and NCAA championship berth while junior Ben Schweiger (165) and sophomore Brenden Velez (125) each placed third and punched their ticket to nationals for the first time. As a team, the Aggies placed fourth out of 18 squads.
 
DelVal, which had six placewinners at the East Regionals, racked up 87.5 points over the two-day tournament. The defending champions, who are 25^th in the latest D3wrestle.com team tournament rankings were just 0.5 points behind unseeded Ursinus College for the third spot. No. 14 Stevens Institute of Technology ran away with the crown with 137 points while eighth-ranked The College of New Jersey was second with 98 points.
 
In addition to the NCAA-bound trio, Tim Ambacher (141), Conor Kirkegard (133) and Nick Della Fera (184) placed at the regional. Ambacher, a sophomore transfer, was fourth in his weight class while Kirkegard and Della Fera each placed fifth to wrap up their collegiate careers.
 
Roseberry, a two-time All-American (fourth in 2014, third in 2015) and second-ranked heavyweight in the country, had little trouble on the first day as he advanced to Sunday's semifinals with a 34-second pin and a 16-1 technical fall. He then knocked off fourth-seeded Tyler Maher (Stevens Tech) with a 10-4 decision that advanced him to the regional finals as well as clinch a NCAA berth.
 
Roseberry's opponent in the finals, second-seeded Paul Triandafilou (Gettsyburg) entered the match with a 29-1 record and they went scoreless in the first period. Roseberry had an early escape in the second while Triandafilou had one in the third. It stayed 1-1 until Roseberry was able to get inside for a takedown with 37 seconds left. Triandafilou escaped but Roseberry kept attacked and Triandafilou was called for his second stalling and a penalty point. Roseberry came away with the 4-2 triumph and his third regional championship while improving his season record to 25-1.
 
Schweiger finished fifth at the regionals in each of the last two years and was looking to take the step in 2016. The number four seed was 2-0 on Saturday, including a pin over the fifth seed, to reach the semifinals. He dropped a tough, 9-8 decision against top-seeded and fourth-ranked Nick Herring (College of NJ) to fall into consolations. He picked up a technical fall victory over Dylan Lojac (NYU) for the second time in the tournament and that put him in the consolation finals against No. 3 Hubert Alston (Ferrum).
 
With a spot at nationals at stake, Schweiger picked up a takedown and rode Alston for the remaining 1:58 of the first period. In the second, Schweiger got another takedown and turned this one into a pin as he dropped Alston in 4:12 for the biggest win of his career. He will head to Iowa with a 14-10 record on the year.   
 
Velez, the sixth-seed who knocked off the third seed on Saturday, opened Sunday's action by taking on second-seeded Chris Tan (Ursinus). He dropped a 16-1, technical fall decision to move into the consolation bracket, but he bounced back with a 6-5 triumph over No. 5 Evan Krumheuer (Johns Hopkins). That put him in the consolation finals against fourth-seeded Noah Malamut (Gettysburg) with an NCAA berth on the line.
 
After falling behind 2-0, Velez got a reversal and a pair of two-point near falls for a 6-2 lead. Neither wrestler scored in the second period and Malamut had a takedown in the third. However, that was all the scoring and Velez had riding time for a 7-4 victory, a third-place regional finish and a berth at nationals. Velez will take a 22-11 record to Iowa in two weeks.
 
Ambacher, a sophomore transfer, was seeded seventh at the regionals and he went 2-0 on Saturday, including a 9-7 upset of the second seed, Ryan Wilson (Stevens Tech). In the semifinals, No. 3 seed Alvontae Dummond (McDaniel) registered a pin in 5:42 to send Ambacher to the consolation bracket. He blanked fourth-seeded Alex Pollera (Washington & Lee), 3-0, for a spot in the consolation finals and a rematch with Wilson.
 
The low-scoring match saw both earn escape points before Wilson got a takedown midway through the third. Ambacher escaped but could not get the go-ahead takedown ad Wilson won, 3-2. Ambacher's first season with the Aggies ended with a 16-15 mark.
 
Kirkegard entered his final regional tournament as a fourth seed and won two matches, including one over the No. 5 seed, on Saturday to reach the semifinals. He met returning All-American and top-seeded Nathan Pike (NYU) in the semifinals and was up 2-0 before Pike ran off eight straight points for the win.
 
In the consolation semifinals, Kirkegard was pinned by unseeded Jaydon Rice (Hunt) and that put him in the fifth-sixth place match. He ended his career with a 6-4 triumph over No. 7 Zach Bylykbashi (Washington & Lee) to give him a 22-9 record on the year and a third straight top six finish at the regionals.
 
Della Fera also wrapped up his collegiate career on a winning note and with a win in the fifth-sixth place match. The fourth seed got there after going 1-2 on Saturday and splitting his first two matches on Sunday (an 8-1 decision over Cody Richmond of Ursinus and a 4-2 loss to No. 3 Ron Tassoni of Washington & Lee). In the placement match, Della Fera edged Blake Bunce (Merchant Marine), 3-1, to finish the year with a 20-12 record.
 
Nick Menkin (149) and Josh Richardson (197) also competed on Sunday after reaching the consolation semifinals with their Saturday results. Menkin was unseeded for the tournament and his run at the East Regionals came to an end when he was dropped by fourth-seeded Quinn Merrigan (Gettysburg) in the first period.
 
Richardson was also unseeded and he met fifth-seeded Danny Moore (Stevens Tech) on Sunday. Moore notched a 3-1 decision to end Richardson's freshman campaign.
 
Junior Sekou Harris (157) and sophomore Chris Jastrzebski (174) also competed at the East Regionals for DelVal but were eliminated on Saturday.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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