Fini

Wartburg College of Waverly, Iowa, is poised to win its 12th NCAA Division III championship later this evening, and three Louisiana wrestlers can claim a piece of the trophy.  Upon entering the finals, the Knights have a 34.5 point lead over second place Messiah College of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Four-time Holy Cross state champion Nick Michael (2009-12), wrestling at 165 lbs., and 2011 Brother Martin state champion Gerard Roman are in the finals to be held later this evening.

Michael is the second seed and entered the tournament with a 25-1 record, with his only loss coming in the Central Regionals finals 6-4 in a Sudden Victory period to Coe College's Farai Sewera, who was the #1 seed in this event.  Sewera, however, lost his first match 5-4 to Wabash's Connor Brummett.  Brummett lost his quarterfinals match to Augsburg's eighth-seeded Eric Hensel, and Hensel lost his semifinals match to fifth-seeded Logan Hermsen of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Michael's had three tough matches en route to the finals, winning 5-3 over Roger Williams' Alec Golner, 5-2 over seventh-seeded Tom Gerszewski of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and 5-3 over third-seeded Nolan Barger of Lycoming.  If a finals advantage is to be had, it belongs to Michael as he posted a 5-2 win over Hermsen in the Concordia University Wisconsin Open (CUW Open) tournament on November 21st. Aside from his CUW Open championship Michael also won the Matman Invitational on January 16th before his runner-up finish at the NCAA Division III Central Regional.

Roman, also a #2 seed, posted a 22-1 record with his only loss being to top-seeded David Welch of Roger Williams.  Welch defeated the former Crusader 8-6 in a dual meet held on January 8th. Roman's first match was an injury default win over Etini Udott of Centenary (New Jersey).  He then defeated seventh-seeded Michael Swider of Wheaton College, followed by a 10-3 semifinals win over third-seeded Joe Giaramita of SUNY-Cortland (New York). During the season Roman won the Luther College Open, the CUW Open and the NCAA Division III Central Regional.

Two-time state champion Connor Campo, competing at 131 lbs., entered the tournament as the #1 seed with a 27-1 record but was upset in the first round 9-5 by Brockport's Eric Velez.  After winning a consolations qualifying match 12-3 Campo won his next two bracket matches 3-2 and 7-2 before falling to Wisconsin-Lacrosse's Dustin Weinmann in the third round of consolations.  Campo placed 7th, scoring 8.5 points for Wartburg, via an injury default by Alma College's seventh-seed Romeo Wiley. In his undefeated regular season Campo also won the Luther College Open , the CUW Open and the NCAA Division III Central Regional.

The finals matches appear to be streaming on www.ncaa.com/liveschedule starting at 7 p.m.  A link to that site is also located on TrackWrestling page for the event at

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