GRANTHAM (PA) – Delaware Valley University seniors Ben Schweiger and Zach Roseberry captured individual titles at 174 pounds and heavyweight respectively while seven teammates placed in the top six as the Aggies competed at the 2017 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship hosted by Messiah College. As a team, DelVal finished in fourth place out of five squads.
 
The Aggies, notched 99.5 points in the team standings. The host Falcons captured their second consecutive MAC championship thanks to five individual champions and 166.5 total points. Wilkes University (132 points) and Lycoming College (126 points) placed second and third respectively. All four are currently ranked in the top 13 in the d3wrestle.com poll that is based on a point system and projected NCAA championship finish (Messiah tied for second, DelVal 11^th, Lycoming 12^th, Wilkes tied for 13^th). King's College rounded out the five-team tournament with 52.5 points.
 
Schweiger took home his first MAC crown as the returning national qualifier and seventh-ranked wrestler in his weight class went 3-0 at the tournament to up his season mark to 25-5. The top seed had a bye into the quarterfinals and then pinned Ricky Fornacairi of Wilkes in 4:26. A 10-0 major decision over Dallas Labar of Lycoming placed Schweiger into the finals against second-seeded Brandon Conrad of Lycoming.
 
Following a scoreless first period, Schweiger had the top position for the second and rode Conrad for the entire two-minute period. He then registered a reversal about 30 seconds into the third for the 2-0 lead. Schweiger rode him out the rest of the way to easily pick up riding time and the 3-0 win for the title.
 
Meanwhile, Roseberry continued his dominance, en route to his third consecutive MAC championship (he was the runner-up as a freshman in 2014). The three-time All-American and defending national champion easily won all three of his matches to improve to 28-0 on the season and up his consecutive winning streak to 48. Roseberry also moved into a tie for fourth place on the Aggie all-time victory list with 121 (121-12). He is now one behind both national Hall of Famer Brandon Totten '96 and former teammate Aaron Karns '15 for second place and just eight triumphs behind the record of 129 held by 2010 graduate and heavyweight Kyle Bilquist.
 
At the MACs, Roseberry followed a first-round bye with technical fall victories of 15-0 over Noah Klingborg of Lycoming and 18-3 over Tom Lynd of Lycoming. That put Roseberry in the finals against second-seeded Nick Havener of Messiah and he used four takedowns, an escape and riding time to register a 10-4 decision.
 
In addition to Schweiger and Roseberry's heroics, DelVal had a runner-up in Tim Ambacher at 141 pounds and a bronze medalist in Brenden Velez at 125 pounds. Sekou Harris took fourth at 157 pounds while Rob Duxbury and Steve Horvath placed fifth at 149 and 174 pounds respectively. Austin Ross and Brandon Rudy each finished in sixth place at 157 and 165 pounds respectively.
 
Ambacher, the top seed and number two-ranked wrestler at 141, reached the finals with a 9-0 major decision over Andres Aguilar of Lycoming and a 7-3 triumph over Lee Cassel of Messiah. That set the stage for much anticipated rematch with 2015 national champion and third-ranked Matthew Grossman of Wilkes. The two met just two weeks ago at the North/South Duals and Ambacher notched a 9-5 victory.
 
The two were scoreless after the first period on Saturday and each had an escape for a 1-1 score late in third. Grossman notched a takedown with 20 ticks to go before Ambacher escaped. He could not get any points the rest of the way and Grossman came away with the 3-2 decision. It was just the first loss that Ambacher had to Division III wrestler all season as his overall record moved to 22-4.
 
Velez, a returning national qualifier, reached the semifinals with a 16-0 technical fall win over Dakota Quick against King's. He then went up against defending national champion and top-ranked Lucas Malmberg of Messiah and the eventual conference champ downed Velez, 5-0. Velez bounced back with a 5-1 decision of Marshall Myers of Messiah in the consolation semifinals and then was awarded an injury default in the consolation finals. His record moved to 19-8.
 
In his final MAC championship, Harris went 4-2 to place fourth and up his season record to 12-13. One of the senior's wins was a 12-9 decision over top-seeded Jeff Hojnacki of Messiah in the consolation finals.
 
Duxbury (14-13) picked up four wins as well at the tournament, including a 17-1 technical fall victory in the fifth place match against Morgan Fuller of Wilkes. Horvath's 2-2 showing, included a 5-3 decision over Tyler Hershey of Messiah in the battle for fifth place. He is 3-3 on the year
 
Ross (7-7) had three wins at the MACs while Rudy (10-14) had one triumph as they each placed at their first conference tournament.
 
Max Styer (125), Tucker Velez (133), Anthony Snyder (165) and David Furmato (184) also competed at the MAC Championship for the Aggies, who will have their first home match of the season on Friday, January 27 (6 p.m.) when they welcome 17^th-ranked SUNY-Cortland (d3wrestle.com rankings) to Doylestown.