BOSSIER CITY, La., March 17, 2024 – With six individual champions, Bellarmine University from Kentucky won their second consecutive National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NWCA) national championship tournament. Bellarmine won with 245½ points with Liberty finishing second with 182 followed by Thomas More (143½), The Apprentice School (Va.) (125½) and Lindenwood (123½) in the top five
Bellarmine and Thomas More, among five others, are classified as transition programs wrestling within the NCWA postseason by invitation as they prepare to move into their NCAA classifications in the next two seasons. Liberty is going to the NCAA Division I level next season.
Northeast Regional champion Springfield Technical College was tenth to lead all New England programs. Justin Barr (5th, 149) and Jolan Martori (6th, 165) earned All-American honors for STCC.
In the women’s tournament, Grays Harbor College won the title with six All-Americans to beat defending champion Ottawa-Arizona, 158-148.
New England wrestlers earning All-American honors included MIT’s Veloria Pannell, who won the title at 143, Maine’s Morgan Fonger (5th, 143) and Emma Fonger (6th, 155).
The NCWA was founded in 1997 to provide collegiate athletes with an opportunity to compete in wrestling at a regional and national level. The NCWA helps develop programs under the school’s athletic departments, student services department and sport club departments.
2024 NCWA nationals
At Shreveport, La.
Team results, overall – 1. Bellarmine 245½, 2. Liberty University 182, 3. Thomas More 143½, 4. Apprentice 125½, 5. Lindenwood 123½, 6. Washington State 99½, 7. Central Florida 78, 8. Utah Tech 74½, 9. Allen 69, 10. Springfield Technical CC 63, 11. University of Florida 58, 12. West Chester 57½, 13. Ohio State WC 56, 14. UNLV 55, 15. Williamson College of Trades 48½, 16. Clemson 47½, 17. Stony Brook 43½, 18. Slippery Rock 43, 19. Toledo 40½. 20. Iowa State WC 40, 21. Texas A&M 39½, 22. Gray’s Harbor 38, 23. Virginia Tech WC 37½, 24. Rowan 37, 25. Dubuque WC and Lyon 36½¸27. Washington 35, 28. Colorado State 29, 29. RPI 28, 30. Florida A&M 26½, 31. UMass 25, 32. Wayne State College 24, 33. Maine Maritime Academy 22½, 34. Kansas State 22, 35. Caribbean, Montclair State and Fresno State WC 20½, 38. Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 19, 39. Northeastern 18, 40, East Carolina 17½, 41. James Madison 16½, 42. Akron, Grand Valley State WC, South Carolina, Ottawa-Arizona 15½, 46. Penn State WC 14½, 47. UCLA 14, 48. Auburn, Rhode Island, Tarleton State and Texas State 13
Other New England schools: 60. Maine 8, 65. Yale 7, 67. MIT 6½. 86 teams in the tournament
Division II schools — 1. West Chester University 57½, 2. Ohio State WC 56, 3. Clemson 47½, 4. Iowa State WC 40, 5. Texas A&M 39½
2024 NCWA national championship brackets and results (FloArena)
Individual results
125 LBS
Final: Damion Ryan (Bellarmine) dec. Aiden Scheeringa (Liberty), 17-4
3rd Austin Kegley (Lindenwood) pin Juan Cantu (Texas A&M), 0:51
5th Shay Horton (Thomas More) dec. Kobe Bui (Washington State), 5-0
7th Ben Lindley (Lindenwood) dec. Dominic Ciolli (Ohio State WC), 3-0
133 LBS
Final: Trayce Eckman (Bellarmine) dec. Ethan Vugman (Florida), 18-16
3rd Caiden Pelc (Lindenwood) pin Dillon Messick (Apprentice), 3:50
5th Kevin Kerns (Central Florida) pin Isaiah Duran (UCLA), 1:59
7th Jonathan Tanguma (Washington) dec. Chase Arnestad (Liberty), 14-2
141 LBS
Final: Cole Thomas (Thomas More) dec. Bruno Alves (Apprentice), 16-10
3rd Thomas Mccane (Central Florida) dec. Chase Hall (Bellarmine), 16-3
5th Jordan Robins (Apprentice) dec. Kenneth Lambert (Clemson), 10-2
7th Ryan Wilson (Washington State) dec. Zachary Foote (Iowa State WC), 9-6
149 LBS
Final: Ryan Moore (Thomas More) dec. Zac Cowan (Bellarmine), 7-2
3rd Lincoln Vick (Iowa State WC) dec. Zachary Ortega (Apprentice), 5-2
5th Justin Barr (Springfield Tech CC) dec. Gabriel Ojeda (UNLV), 5-4
7th Hudson Garcia (Washington State) M forfeit over Alexander Gamble-Williams (Williamson College of the Trades)
157 LBS
Final: Gray Ortis (Bellarmine) pin Reid Stewart (Liberty), 7:44
3rd Mitchell Helgert (Washington State) pin Keaton Fischer (West Chester), 4:44
5th Kailan Keith (Thomas More) pin Max Wise (Stony Brook), 1:36
7th Pearce Phillips (Clemson) forfeit over Rayme Dagin (Allen)
165 LBS
Final: Grant O’Dell (Bellarmine) TF Keith Brubach (Slippery Rock), 22-6 6:19
3rd David Over (Liberty) dec. Ezekiel Burkholder (Toledo), 18-6
5th Gavin Zoucha (Wayne State College) dec. Jolan Martori (Springfield Tech CC), 12-2
7th Landon Kissell (Apprentice) pin Peter Haverick (Montclair State), 1:21
174 LBS
Final: Cole Nance (Bellarmine) pin Talon Pisarchuk (Williamson College of the Trades), 6:56
3rd Kaden Charboneau (Lindenwood) dec. Alex Dorce (Allen), 5-4
5th Wayne Lamont (Stony Brook) dec. Emiliano Saucedo (Iowa State WC), 7-5
7th Josh Seaton (Apprentice) dec. Jahmon Spiller (Thomas More), 15-4
184 LBS
Final: Sam Schroeder (Bellarmine) TF Ben Liss (Rutgers WC), 17-2 6:41
3rd Graham Carson (Ohio State WC) dec. Riley Hackworth (Florida), 12-6
5th Luke Shaver (Lindenwood) forfeit over Michael Jackson (Allen)
7th Tim Goddard (Liberty) forfeit over David Mcelravy (Apprentice)
197 LBS
Final: Cesar Ubico (Utah Tech) dec. Ryan Golnick (Lindenwood), 8-6
3rd Glean Gonzalez (Virginia Tech WC) dec. Carder Miller (Liberty), 8-1
5th Matthew Micale (West Chester) DEF Dominic Love (Florida A&M)
7th Josh Luna (Grays Harbor) dec. Jacob Westfall (Western Washington), 7-2
235 LBS
Final: Josiah Murphy (Liberty) dec. Joseph Pineda (Dubuque WC), 4-1 SV
3rd Christopher San paolo (Rowan) pin Dylan Jahrling (UNLV), 3:48
5th Jacob Meek (Toledo) M forfeit over Koby Kidd (Tarleton State)
7th Diara Spencer (Fresno State WC) dec. Franco Fontela (Dubuque WC), 4-1 SV
285 LBS
Final: Frederick Weaver (Liberty) dec. Jonovan Smith (Caribbean), 2-1 SV
3rd Daulton Mayer (Thomas More) pin Thadd Huff (Bellarmine), 1:09
5th Micah Vuki (Utah Tech) pin Wade Wheeler (Liberty), 3:40
7th Keegan Bach (Washington) pin David Hernandez (Lindenwood), 1:23
WOMEN
Team results – Gray’s Harbor 158, 2. Ottawa-Arizona 148, 3. Washington State 82½, 4. Utah Tech 81, 5. Grand Canyon 57½,6. Central Florida 50, 7. MIT 45, 8. Allen 44, 9.Liberty University 43, 10. Santa Rosa JC 36, 11. Texas A&M 35½, 12. Lyon and Texas 34, 14. UCLA 29, 15. Maine 27, 16. UNLV 26, 17. Fresno State 24½, 18. Texas State 24, 19. Colorado State 22, 20. Western Washington 18½, 21. Florida A&M 17½, 22. Florida 16½, 23. North Texas, Northeastern, Texas Tech 13½, 26. Slippery Rock 10½, 27. Washington 7, 28. Georgia, West Chester and Xavier-Louisiana 5½
42 schools participated in the tournament
101 LBS
Final: Olivia Atkins (Ottawa – Arizona) dec. Jasmine Cortez (Texas State), 14-5
3rd Carly Neville (Utah Tech) pin Caley Kling (Colorado State), 1:16
5th Ariel Kamat (Texas A&M) dec. Madalyn Youngbird (Colorado State), 14-5
109 LBS
Final: Liliana Voakes (Ottawa – Arizona) dec. Jillian Lackey (Allen), 7-0
3rd Daniela Suttles (Grand Canyon) pin Katelyn Locastro (Central Florida), 2:08
5th Eden Lopez (Grays Harbor) forfeit over Rubi Gonzalez (Lyon)
116 LBS
Final: Genesis Vazquez (Washington State) pin Jasmine Oleson (UNLV), 1:45
3rd Angelina Walker (Ottawa – Arizona) dec. Maryum Ajaz (Washington State), 19-6
5th Jade Tran (Texas) pin Maria Leyba (Northeastern), 1:02
123 LBS
Final: Lauren Mills (Utah Tech) tech fall Alexandria Kauffman-Temple (Grays Harbor), 18-1 6:23
3rd Kimberly Iglesias (Florida) dec. Jada Yamada (Western Washington), 7-4
5th Leah Ben-israel (Central Florida) pin Ava Nelson (Slippery Rock), 2:47
130 LBS
Final: Viveca Pannell (MIT) pin Mia Garza (Texas), 3:57
3rd Maysa Brown (Grays Harbor) pin Samantha Sherman (Florida A&M), 1:39
5th Claire Wortz (Liberty) dec. Kali Westover (Utah Tech), 11-7
136 LBS
Final: Anja Hansen (Ottawa – Arizona) dec. Paige Kalish (Central Florida), 6-4
3rd Marissa Riojas (Grays Harbor) pin Vanessa Mares (Fresno State), 2:34
5th Mikayla Wallace (Lyon) pin Elizabeth Patana (Grays Harbor), 1:35
143 LBS
Final: Veloria Pannell (MIT) pin Courtney Jones (Grays Harbor), 2:36
3rd Iyanla Thomas (Ottawa – Arizona) pin Cathia Timas (Allen), 5:52
5th Morgan Fonger (Maine) pin Anna-Mari Servin (Liberty), 1:45
155 LBS
Final: Mikayla Silverman (UCLA) pin Leilani Frazer (Santa Rosa JC), 4:01
3rd Sidney Milligan (Lyon) dec. Samantha Tuttle (Grand Canyon), 12-2
5th Orianna Morales (Grand Canyon) pin Emma Fonger (Maine), 3:47
170 LBS
Final: Tayleigh Robertson (Utah Tech) pin Petra Bernsten (Washington State), 0:34
3rd Maya Marroquin (Texas A&M) dec. Georgia Ustaszewski (Grays Harbor), 10-6
5th Ebony Cortez (Ottawa – Arizona) dec. Maile Ka’ahanui (Liberty), 13-2
191 LBS
Final: Renaeh Ureste (Grays Harbor) pin Deonne Topete (Ottawa – Arizona), 1:42
3rd Taylor Thomas (Washington State) pin Dally Mcconnell (Texas Tech), 5:20
5th Zoe Mullin-belangar (North Texas) pin Declyn Foster (Grays Harbor), 0:49
235 LBS
Final: Jojera Dodge (Grays Harbor) pin Evelyn Coronado (Ottawa – Arizona), 2:07
3rd Prisila Vela (Grand Canyon) pin Marianna Mendoza-jimenez (Washington State), 1:03
5th Jordan Washek (Washington State) forfeit over Sarah Delair (Santa Rosa JC)
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.