Titans Advance A Pair Of Wrestlers To Nationals
UW-Oshkosh wrestlers Kody Azarian and Mark Choinski earned trips to the NCAA Division III Championship with their second-place finishes at the West Regional held Saturday (Feb. 25) in Moorhead, Minn.
Azarian and Choinski both compiled 2-1 regional records after losing first-place matches at 141 and 157 pounds, respectively. Both Titans will make their inaugural appearances at a NCAA Division III Championship that will be hosted by UW-La Crosse at the La Crosse Center on March 10-11.
Azarian (10-3) advanced to his regional title contest with an 18-3 victory over Scott Worlund of UW-Eau Claire and a 7-4 win over Adam Presler of Concordia College (Minn.). Azarian lost his championship match by a 7-2 result to David Flynn of Augsburg College (Minn.).
Choinski (21-3) qualified for his title bout with a pin of UW-Eau Claire's Connor Hanson in 1:05 and a 10-2 decision over Augsburg College's Grant Parker. Choinski was outscored, 17-10, by Concordia College's Cole Sladek in the championship contest.
UW-Oshkosh also received regional finishes of fourth from Aristide Serrano at 165 pounds and fifth from both Anthony Senthavisouk and Jonathan Flores at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. The Titans' Julius Smith added a sixth-place finish at 184 pounds.
The top three finishers in each weight class earned a spot in this year's national championship.
Serrano (12-20) just missed out on a berth to nationals with his 6-2 loss to Teddy Erickson of Saint John's University (Minn.) in the third-place match. Serrano opened with a 17-10 win over Bryant Ridgway of St. Olaf College (Minn.) before losing a 14-3 decision to Augsburg College's Lucas Jeske. Serrano then moved to his third-place contest with wins of 14-5 over UW-Eau Claire's Toby Mosley and 9-7 over UW-Platteville's Isaac Brosinski. Serrano finished the tournament with a 3-2 record.
Senthavisouk (11-14) split his four matches, including an 8-7 triumph over Anthony Hennen of Saint John's University in his fifth-place. Senthavisouk earlier followed a 5-4 win over Concordia University Wisconsin's Matthew Saidana with defeats of 13-0 to UW-Eau Claire's Zackary Sirny and 8-4 to UW-Platteville's Zachary Stenger.
Flores (4-12) won his fifth-place contest with a narrow 7-6 result over St. Olaf College's Luke Wallace. Flores posted a 1-2 record by also being pinned by Cody Vogel of UW-Eau Claire in 2:18 and Noah Becker of Saint John's University in 3:23.
Smith (7-9) tallied a 1-3 record and lost his fifth-place match by a 5-1 score to Concordia University Wisconsin's Mitchell Slatton. Smith opened with a 9-4 win over Ricky Briggs of Concordia College before losing bouts of 5-0 to Grant Wedepohl of UW-Platteville and 9-5 to Luke Dodd of Saint John's University.
UW-Oshkosh also had Joe Pelkey post a 1-2 record (1 pin) at 149 pounds, Colten Cashmore a 1-2 mark (1 pin) at 174 and both John DePersia and Elijah Burdick 0-2 values at 197 and 285 pounds, respectively.
Augsburg College won the 11-team regional with 159 points. The 12-time national champion Auggies were followed by host Concordia College in second place with 123.5 points, Saint John's University in third with 90, UW-Platteville in fourth with 86 and UW-Eau Claire in fifth with 79.
UW-Oshkosh finished sixth with 66.5 points while Concordia University Wisconsin placed seventh with 66, Milwaukee School of Engineering eighth with 44.5 and St. Olaf College ninth with 19.5.
The Titans ranked eighth at last year's West Regional with 39.5 points.
2017 NCAA Division III Wrestling West Regional • Host Website
2017 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship • Host Website