Coe’s Sewera rules D-III at 165

The Coe wrestling team has grown accustomed to Saturday night at the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Kohawks have had a finalist in each of the last six seasons. Farai Sewera ended the championship drought, capturing the first individual title for Coe since Clayton Rush in 2011.

The 165-pound junior defeated Wisconsin-La Crosse's Tyler Schneider, 9-4, in the finals of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships on Saturday night at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.

'I was comfortable facing him for a third time, ' said Sewera, adding, 'but I was also a little more cautious because he knew me so well. But my coaches and teammates believed I could do it so I believed in myself as well.”

Coe Coach John Oostendorp said the title is important for the program and younger wrestlers can learn from Sewera's intensity. Sewera joins two-time champion Rush and former Kohawk Tyler Burkle.

'It's really important to win national championships,” said Coe Coach John Oostendorp, who has been the head coach for all four individual champions in school history. 'It really brings home to everyone in your program what it takes to be the best. It's a very exclusive group and you need to make sacrifices to prepare your body and mind to get you ready for the stress of these two days.”

Sewera, who had defeated Schneider twice previously this season, got a takedown in the first period and never trailed.

Sewera led 5-2 after two periods, then added two third-period takedowns.

'Those old matches, they don't carry over to the next one,” Coe Coach John Oostendorp said. '(Schneider) might have tried to do a couple different things underneath, but Farai competes hard and knows what he has to do in those big matches.”

Oostendorp was reminded of Sewera's first match at the NCAA tournament when he trailed 10-4 Eric Hensel of Augsburg and fought back to win 17-12.

'Farai is a dangerous guy,” Oostendorp said. 'He fought off his back and came back. He's a really good competitor and I'm very proud of him and happy for him.”

Sewera bested his fourth place finish from a year ago. The win also boosted Coe in the team standings from ninth to seventh, surpassing Luther and Wisconsin-La Crosse. That fact wasn't lost on Sewera.

'I was hoping I would get that opportunity and I was glad to help my team achieve that,” said Sewera.

Coe has finished in the top ten at the national tournament seven out of the last eight season. In addition to Sewera, the Kohawks had two more All-Americans. Ryan Harrington finished fourth at 174 and Donnie Horner was fifth at 197.

A 4-2 wrestling final usually doesn't have a lot of drama. The 141-pound championship match was the exception to the rule.

C.J. Palmer, of Hunter College, was awarded a takedown with two seconds left in the second sudden-victory period to win the national title over Luther's Drew Van Anrooy.

After a scoreless first period, Palmer choose down to start the second period. Van Anrooy had a number of physical mat returns. Palmer escaped Van Anrooy with 22 seconds left in the second period to take a 1-0 lead going to the third.

Palmer erased the riding time and then added some of his own, but the Luther junior escaped with 12 seconds left to tie the match at 1-1 and send it to the first sudden victory.

Neither scored in the first extra period. Van Anrooy rode out Palmer in the first half of tiebreaker one. In the second half, Van Anrooy was hit with his third caution giving Palmer a 2-1 lead with nine seconds to go, but a Van Anrooy escape sent the match to the next sudden victory period.

Palmer got to Van Anrooy's legs early in the final stanza and finished the takedown to complete the victory with two remaining. The call stood after a Luther challenge and video review.

'Drew showed a lot of fight,” said Luther Coach Dave Mitchell. 'He showed a lot of fight getting that escape after getting called for his third caution. And he was fighting at the end as well. Drew had (Palmer's) leg against his chest and that's often called a stalemate but in fairness it was a very tough match to officiate and I appreciate that. Bottom line, you have to take care of what you can control.”

The Norse ended up ninth in the team standings, which is their best finish at the national tournament since 2009.

'This is a good team.” said Mitchell, who continued, 'And seven guys we brought battled. Next year, we'll have five returning national qualifiers, a returning finalist, another returning All-American, so we have a lot we can build from.”

Luther had two other All-Americans. Senior Evan Obert finished third at 133 pounds. Junior heavyweight Conner Herman finished eighth at 285.

The four year run at the top of NCAA Division III wrestling for Wartburg came to an end at this year's tournament. Augsburg won its first title since 2010, outscoring Wartburg, 100-89 1/2. The Auggies earned 24 1/2 bonus points in the meet compared to Wartburg's seven.

'When you start the year unranked with one returning guy in the lineup, you have to appreciate what this group accomplished,” said Knight coach Eric Keller. 'What they've developed and what they've done throughout the season speaks for itself. '

But with a program that had won four national championship in a row, a runner-up finish is not the standard that the Wartburg program has set for itself.

'Obviously we're disappointed in second place,” said Keller. 'We came here to win the gold trophy. But looking ahead we return eight guys and we've got some things we have to fix as we get ready for next year.”

The Knights finished with eight All-Americans. Kenneth Martin brought home the national championship at 149 pounds and Devin Peterson was runner-up at 174.

Either Wartburg or Augsburg has won every Division III National title since 1995.

Former University of Iowa wrestler Terrance Jean-Jacques placed second at heavyweight for Rhode Island College. He dropped a 1-0 decision to Augsburg's Donny Longendyke in the championship match.

Other IIAC place-winners:

125:

Jake Agnitsch of Wartburg placed fifth, winning his final match over Guesseppe Rea of Wilkes, 3-2. Central's Daniel Page placed seventh, winning final match over WPI's Brian Amato, 13-0.

133:

Evan Obert of Luther placed third, winning final match over Alex Gomez of Ithaca. Connor Campo of Wartburg placed eighth, losing his final match to Zach Haynes of Delaware Valley, 5-4.

141

: Luther's Drew Van Anrooy placed second to Cary Palmer of Hunter, 4-2 in sudden victory. Nick Steger of Loras placed fifth, winning final match over Layten Binion of North Central (Ill.), 4-1.

149:

Kenneth Martin of Wartburg placed first, beating Vincent fava of Delaware Valley, 8-3, in the final.

157:

Steven DeWitt of Loras placed fourths losing by fall to Jorge Lopez of Williams College. Drew Wagenhoffer of Wartburg beat Kevin Collins of Ithaca, 7-0, for fifth place.

165:

Farai Sewera of Coe won the national title with a 9-4 win over Wisconsin-La Crosse's Tyler Schneider, 9-4. Andrew Steiert of Wartburg was sixth, losing final match by fall to Augsburg's Eric Hensel.

174

: Ryan Harrington of Coe lost in the third-place match to Josh Thompson of Messiah, 9-3.

184: Wartburg's Devin Peterson was national runner-up, dropping 5-3 decision to Riley Lefever of Wabash in final.

197

: Donnie Horner of Coe beat Gerard Roman of Wartburg, 8-5, in the fifth-place match. Central's Matt Seabold was eighth.

285

: Benjamin Nagle of Wartburg beat Trevor Maresh of Alma, 3-1, for fifth place. Conner Herman of Luther placed eighth.