Washington and Lee’s Ryan Luth (Milford) ended his collegiate career with a fifth place finish at the NCAA Div. III national championships Saturday. (Photo courtesy Washington and Lee University)
Three wrestlers with Connecticut roots earned All-American honors at the NCAA Division III national championships in Roanoke, Virginia while Coast Guard had four All-American wrestlers and finished ninth overall – their best-ever finish in the NCAA tournament.
Coy Spooner (197) finished second with David McCullough (184, 5th), Carl DiGiorgio (285, 7th) and Chase Randall (133, 8th) each earning All-American honors for the Bears.
Milford’s Ryan Luth of Washington and Lee finished fifth at 157 pounds with Stamford’s Chase Parrott (149) of Springfield College and Fairfield’s Peter Kane (157) of Williams each finishing seventh.
Luth, a senior who wrestled at Foran High, went 4-2 in the tournament and closed out his collegiate career with a 9-3 win over York College’s Jared Blair in the consolation final.
Luth (23-3) won his opening match with 8-0 win over Muhlenberg’s Brandon Bowles before dropping a 8-0 decision to eventual finalist Tyler Shilson of Augsburg. But Luth won two consecutive consolation round bouts to earn All-American honors for a second time in his career.
He lost to Loras’ Zeke Smith in the consolation semifinals, 4-0 but rallied to beat Wartburg’s David Hollingsworth, 4-3, to finish fifth.
Trailing 3-0 after two periods, Luth chose bottom to begin the third period. He escaped nine seconds into the period and got a takedown to tie the match at 3-3. He rode out the remainder of the period to win the bout with a point for riding time.
“A long 17-year journey came to end (Saturday),” Luth posted on social media. “Went out with a win in front of the best coaches, family, and team I could ask for. I would be nothing without this sport and the people in it. Forever grateful to be a part of something so amazing.”
Luth was a three-time conference champion for Washington and Lee and a two-time All-American. He was fourth a year ago at the NCAA Div. III nationals at 157 pounds.
Williams’ Peter Kane earned All-American honors at Saturday’s NCAA Div. III national championships. (Michael Yeh photo courtesy Williams College)
Kane, a freshman from Fairfield, earned All-American honors for Williams College with his seventh place finish at 157 pounds. Kane (37-5) pinned Ryan Smith of Stevens Institute of Technology in 2:39 in their medal round match. He was 3-2 in the tournament.
“Peter had a great tournament, with some with some ups and downs along the way. I was most impressed by his competitive response to the disappointing moments of the tournament. He followed each loss with a dominant performance,” Williams coach Scott Honecker said. “I am not sure Peter could have handled the roller coaster as well earlier in the season, and I know his mindset is something he’s been working on. He joins rare company as a Williams All-American.”
Springfield’s Parrott (29-5) ended his career with a spot on the podium and his first All-American medal. Parrot, who is from Stamford, lost his opening round match but won four of his five remaining bouts.
After dropping his first match to No. 6 seed Javen Estrade of North Central College, 12-4, Parrott beat Averett’s Hai Sui, 6-1 and earned All-American honors with 5-4 win over No. 5 Kristian Rumph of Wartburg.
On Saturday, the unseeded Parrott dropped a 7-3 decision to No. 8 Chase Sumner of Ohio Northern but rebounded with a 5-3 win over No. 7 Charles Stuhl of Augsburg to finish the season with a win and in seventh place.
Spooner, a sophomore for Coast Guard, was undefeated entering the championship match with No. 2 seed Massoma Endene of Wartburg College. Endene had Spooner (26-1) on his heels early in a 10-6 victory.
Endene (27-1) got a takedown in the first 15 seconds of the match and quickly put Spooner on his back for a 4-0 lead. Another takedown and two-point near fall helped Endene build a 8-2 lead after one period.
Spooner got a takedown in the second period to cut the lead to 8-4 and got an escape early in the third period to cut the lead to three, 8-5. But Endene got a takedown with 1:22 remaining to extend his lead to 10-5.
Spooner, a two-time All-American, is the fourth Coast Guard wrestler to make a championship final but no Bear wrestler has brought home an individual title yet.
Spooner earned his spot in the final with an 11-3 win semifinal over No. 4 Chibueze Chkwuezi of Ithaca. He had a tougher time in the quarterfinals with a 6-4 decision in OT over Demitreus Henry of SUNY. Spooner got a takedown with nine seconds left in the third period to tie the match and won it with a takedown in OT.
McCullough (28-2) was upset in the first round in an 11-9 OT loss to Tristin Westphal of Coe College, who got a takedown in OT for the victory. Westphal trailed 5-0 early in the first period.
But McCullough won four of his next five matches in the consolation round to finish fifth with a 9-4 win over Colby Giroux of RIT in Rochester.
DiGiorgio (19-5) went 3-2 in the tournament to finish seventh at 285 with Randall (19-5) taking eighth at 133.
With 40½ points, it was Coast Guard’s best finish as a team since finishing 15th last March. The Bears had four All-Americans, the most they’ve had at a single NCAA championship tournament.
Augsburg University from Minnesota won their 14th NCAA Division III title with 101 points, beating Iowa’s Wartburg College, who was second with 66½ points.
2023 NCAA Division III national championships
At Roanoke, Virginia
Team results – 1. Augsburg (Minnesota) University 101, 2. Wartburg College (Iowa) 66½, 3. Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio) 66 , 4. North Central College (Illinois) 63½, 5. Wisconsin-LaCrosse 61, 6. Johnson & Wales (Providence RI) 52, 7. Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) 49½, 8. University of Dubuque (Iowa) 41½, 9. Coast Guard 40½, 10. Wabash College (Indiana) 35½, 11. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 33, 12. Coe College (Iowa) 32, 13. Ohio Northern University 31½, 14. Springfield 30, 15. Loras College (Iowa) 28½, 16. College of New Jersey 27½, 17. Wisconsin-Whitewater 24, 18. Southern Maine 21, 19. Rhode Island College 20, 20. Alvernia University (Pa.) 17 and York (Pa.) College 17
Other state schools: 55. Trinity ½, 59. Wesleyan 0
125
Final: Joziah Fry (Johnson & Wales) dec. Jacob Decatur (Baldwin Wallace), 4-2
3. Christian Guzman (North Central College) dec. Jake Craig (Southern Maine), 10-1
5. Zac Blasioli (Millikin University) dec. Mason Barrett (Averett University) 9-0
7. Brady Koontz (Dubuque) dec. Joey Lamparelli (Muhlenberg College) 7-2
133
Final: Robbie Precin (North Central College) dec. Dalton Rohrbaugh (York College) 3-1
3. Tyler Fleetwood (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) dec. Jaden Hinton (Baldwin Wallace) 4-2
5. Dylan Koontz (Dubuque) pin Ty Bisek (Concordia-Moorhead) 1:24
7. Luke Kowolski (Gettysburg) tech fall Chase Randall (Coast Guard) 18-0
141
Final: Sam Stuhl (Augsburg) dec. Ethan Harsted (Wheaton College), 5-1
3. Jacob Reed (Ohio Northern University) pin Domenic Difrancescantonio (College Of New Jersey) 3:40
5. Kyle Slendorn (Stevens Institute of Technology) pin Zayren Terukina (Wartburg College) 5:56
7. James Rodriguez (Castleton University) dec. Josh Wilson (Greensboro College) 5-2
149
Final: Michael Petrella (Baldwin-Wallace) dec. Javen Estrada (North Central College), 10-4
3. Hayden Brown (Johnson & Wales) dec. Hunter Gutierrez (Stevens Institute of Technology) 6-1
5. Chase Sumner (Ohio Northern University) pin Thomas Monn (McDaniel College) 0:57
7. Chase Parrott (Springfield College) dec. Charlie Stuhl (Augsburg University) 5-3
157
Final: Nolan Hertel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Tyler Shilson (Augsburg University) 6-5, 2 OT
3. Jake Deguire (Springfield College) pin Zeke Smith (Loras College) 5:16
5. Ryan Luth (Washington and Lee) dec. David Hollingsworth (Wartburg College) 4-3
7. Peter Kane (Williams College) pin Ryan Smith (Stevens Institute of Technology) 2:39
165
Final: Nathan Lackman (Rhode Island College) dec. Matt Lackman (Alvernia University) 3-1 OT
3. Noah Leisgang (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Nicholas Sacco (College Of New Jersey) 3-2
5. Cooper Willis (Augsburg) dec. Cooper Pontelandolfo (New York University) 3-0
7. Nathan Fuller (Wartburg College) dec. Jordan Hardrick (Ohio Northern University) 3-1
174
Final: Zane Mulder (Wartburg College) dec. Jared Stricker (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) 7-5
3. Seth Brossard (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Charlie Grygas (Oswego State) 7-3
5. Stefan Major (Stevens Institute of Technology) dec. LJ Richardson (Coe College) 8-5
7. Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg University) forfeit over Anson Dewar (Muhlenberg College
184
Final: Jaritt Shinhoster (Wisconsin-Whitewater) dec. Shane Liegel (Loras College) 9-2
3. Donovan Corn (Luther College) dec. Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg University) 7-1
5. David McCullough (Coast Guard) dec. Colby Giroux (Rochester Institute of Technology) 9-4
7. Charles Baczek (Wabash College) dec. Mahlic Sallah (Roanoke College) 8-0
197
Final: Massoma Endene (Wartburg College) dec. Coy Spooner (Coard Guard) 10-6
3. Chibueze Chukwuezi (Ithaca College) dec. Dylan Harr (Johnson & Wales) 5-1
5. Doug Byrne (Baldwin Wallace) dec. Tyler Hannah (Wisconsin-Platteville) 4-2
7. Beau Yineman (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) dec. Josh Harkless (Rochester Institute of Technology) 5-4
285
Final: Jack Heldt (Wabash College) dec. Kaleb Reeves (Coe College) 6-1
3. Tyler Kim (Augsburg University) pin Darryl Aiello (Dubuque) 1:50
5. Donovan King (Olivet College) dec. Jake Peavey (Southern Maine) 9-2
7. Carl DiGiorgio (Coast Guard) dec. Michael Douglas (Wisconsin-LaCrosse), 7-3
Outstanding wrestler: xx
2023 NCAA Division III brackets and results (TrackWrestling.com)
Printable PDF brackets
