Wartburg leads D-III wrestling

HERSHEY, Pa. - Sometimes the seeds are just numbers.

Coe's Donnie Horner proved that true Friday during opening day of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. The 197-pound senior from Blue Springs, Mo., became an all-American for the second year in a row but had to wrestle much longer than 14 minutes to do so.

Horner defeated third-seeded Aaron Karns of Delaware Valley in the first round, 3-2, setting up a rematch with Gerard Roman of Wartburg in the quarterfinals. Horner ended up with an eight-second riding time advantage after two sudden victories and two tiebreakers to earn the victory in a match that took 11 minutes to complete.

'Coach (Jon) Ostendorp gets us in the mode for this time of year,” Horner said. 'I feel way stronger than I did at Vegas or at the National Duals. I feel real good right and both physically and mentally ready to handle tough challenges,” said the Kohawk who won three of the five matches between him and Roman this year.

Horner will take on second-seeded Shane Seifert of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Saturday's semifinals.

Farai Sewera of Coe had a slow start but ended up earning All-American honors for the first time.

In his first match, the second-seeded junior trailed 10-4 early against Eric Hensel of Augsburg but came back to win, 17-12.

'After I got through that match I feel I can get through anything,” Sewera said. 'I just know if I don't give up things will work out in the end.

Sewera will face Sam Guidi of Waynesburg (42-4) in Saturday morning's semifinals.

Ryan Sheldon of Coe at 174 pounds was eliminated in the SAll-American round. Coe is eighth in the team standings with 25 points.

Wartburg is seeking an unprecedented fifth straight national title. The Knights put four wrestlers into the semifinals and will have eight All-Americans. Wartburg leads Augsburg by 1.5 points in the team race.

'It's going to be a dogfight,” Wartburg Coach Eric Keller said. 'Every match, front and back side, will matter and every point will count. Our guys know that and we're going to have to be ready to go.”

Evan Obert of Luther had a special win Friday night. The 133-pound senior earned All-American honors for the second time with a fall in 4:11 over Zach Haynes of Delaware Valley. The win was also the 100th in his collegiate career.

Obert will face Chad Bartschenfeld of Augsburg in the semifinals. Obert was an All-American two years ago but lost two consecutive overtime matches at last year's NCAA tournament.

'I don't like to dwell on that a lot, ' Obert said. 'But I'll never forget that feeling. Whenever I got down on myself and maybe didn't feel like putting in the extra effort I thought of last year and knew I didn't want to feel that way again.”

Drew Van Anrooy of Luther has now won 22 consecutive matches. The Oregon State transfer earned All-American honors at 141 with a 7-2 win over Augsburg's Marcus Hamer 7-2 in the first round and then held off Wisconsin-Whitewater's Matt Adcock, last year's runner-up at 141, 3-2.

It will be an All-Iowa Conference matchup in Saturday's semifinals when Van Anrooy will take on Loras' Nick Steger.

The two have not met this year as Van Anrooy missed a good portion of the season with a knee injury.

Luther's Conner Herman became an All-American for the first time at 285. The former Cedar Rapids Jefferson prep won a 4-2 match in overtime, taking down Cole Tristram of Brockport with four seconds left in the overtime period.

Herman qualified for nationals in 2012 but has missed the majority of the last two seasons with major knee injuries.

Luther is seeking its first top-10 national finish since 2010. The Norse are seventh after the first two session with 26 points.

Cornell's three qualifiers - Nathan Shank at 133, Trevor Engle at 149 and Brett Hamm at 174 - all reached the all-American round but fell all fell one match short of reaching the stand.