DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – First-year Jacob Blair finished runner-up to qualify for the national championship tournament and lead the Delaware Valley University men's wrestling team to a seventh place at the 2023 NCAA Southeast Regional tournament.
As a team, DelVal finished with 82 points to earn seventh out of 21 teams in the Southeast region. Stevens Institute of Technology took the team title with 177 points, and Alvernia followed as runner-up with 143.5 points.
Blair will compete in Roanoke, Virginia, the site of the 2023 NCAA Division III National Championships, beginning Friday, March 10. In addition to his pursuit of a National Championship title, Blair will look to become the program's 83rd All-American by finishing inside the top-eight.
After day one, the Aggies had six wrestlers still alive and vying for a chance to qualify for nationals. The top-three finishers in each weight class qualify.
Blair, the rookie, along with sophomore Ryan Arndt and senior team captain Austin Williams, went 2-0 on Friday to advance to Saturday's semi-final round. Sophomore Dan Eckley, along with first-years Luke Moore and Jaden Roberts were still alive after day one, and competing for third place in the consolation brackets on Saturday.
Blair had to get by the No. 1 seed at 125 pounds, and returning All-American Riley Parker of Washington & Lee in his opening match. The two wrestlers exhausted every effort, and in the end, Blair came away on top with an 8-6 decision and the upset. In the quarterfinals, Blair used a great move late in the first period to trap Evan Whiteside of Thiel and earn a fall at 2:42. That win moved him into Saturday's semifinals. In his semifinal matchup, Blair would meet up against No. 5 seed Austin Fashouer of Wilkes. This was the third meeting between these two competitors, with Blair winning the first matchup in the Aggies dual meet against Wilkes and Fashouer winning the rematch at the MAC Tournment. Blair would land the first takedown and never look back as he defeated Fashouer by a score of 6-5. In the finals, Blair would face off against Mason Barrett of Averett. The match was tied 1-1 heading into overtime, where Barrett would eventually pick up the match winning takedown. Blair would take second place, punching his ticket to the NCAA Division III National Championship and becoming the second ever national qualifier under head coach Andrew Taylor.
At 133, Arndt seemingly cruised through the first two rounds and into the semis. He earned a 16-0 tech. fall over Sean Rinebolt of Shenandoah before taking a 16-7 major decision from Luke Kowolski of Gettysburg. In the semifinal matchup, Arndt would match up against the defending Southeast Regional champion and 2022 Division III NCAA All American, No 1. seed Dalton Rohrbaugh of York. Arndt would drop a hard fought 11-7 decision to Rohrbaugh, dropping Arndt to the consolation semifinals. Ardnt would fall to Anthony Portillo of Alvernia by a score of 9-4. In his placement match, Arndt would respond and defeat No. 3 seed Jack Bauer of Wilkes by a score of 5-0. Arndt would finish the tournament with a fifth place finish.
Williams, competing in the heavyweight bracket, earned a 9-5 decision of Kyle Trim of Penn State Behrend to start his day, and then faced a tough task in returning All-American John Fulmer of Lycoming. Williams and Fulmer battled for seven minutes, but it was Fulmer that held a narrow 1-0 lead with under a minute left. Then, with under 10 seconds on the clock, Williams shot, got a hold of both legs and fought to finish the takedown just before the whistle for a 3-1 decision and a ticket to semifinals. In the semifinal matchup, Williams would match up against No 4. seed Michael Dooley of Stevens. This matchup would be a rematch of the MAC Championships, where Dooley narrowly defeated Williams by a last second takedown. In the rematch, Williams would drop another close matchup against Dooley by a score of 4-3. Williams would drop to the consulation semifinals, where Wiliams would fall to No. 3 seed Rayshawn Dixon of Ferrum by a score of 8-0. In his placement bout, Williams would lose by fall to No. 7 seed Caleb Burkert, earning the senior sixth place
At 174 pounds, Moore won his preliminary match with a fall in just 21 seconds. He followed that with a late third period pin of Christopher Nuss from Wilkes to advance to the quarterfinals. Needing one more win to advance to the semis, Moore was narrowly overcome by eventual third place finisher, Alex Turley of Averett by 3-2 decision. Moore bounced-back the next day with another two wins by fall to set up a battle against a familiar foe, Kade Kravits of King's. Kravits got the best of Moore on this day with a 5-1 decision to bump the Aggie first year to the fifth place match. Moore met Jared Townsend of York and dropped his third match of the tournament by 7-0 decision. He finished sixth overall.
At 184 pounds, Jaden Robert would drop his opening match in overtime 4-3 decision to Connor Wrobleski of Kings. Roberts would then win his next two matches in a row to advance to day two. Roberts would lose a 4-2 decision in overtime to Hunter Lowe of Wilkes. Roberts would receive a medical forfeit in his placement match, earning him seventh place.
At 197, junior Dan Eckley would win his first match of the day by fall over Dylan Barber of Penn State Behrend. Eckley would drop his next matchup by decision to eventual third place finisher No. 5 seed Mauro Pellot of Alvernia. Eckley would rebound with a 4-2 decision win over of Brendan Loder of Gettysburg, advancing the junior to day two. Eckley would start off the next day with a major decision victory over Joe Embleton of Messiah. In the consolation semi final round, Eckley would drop a close hard fought decision to No 2. seed Camron Butka of Wilkes. In Eckley's placement match, he would drop a 5-3 decision to No. 3 seed and 2022 NCAA All America, Gable Crebs of Lycoming. Eckley would place sixth overall.
