No.5 McKendree University men's wrestling will be moving six wrestlers onto the NCAA National Championship on March 11-12 after the Bearcats had six individuals qualify for the national tournament in the Super Regionals IV by placing third or higher in the outing. The Bearcats will be bringing All-GLVC first team member and redshirt sophomore Christian Mejia (125, 2nd), All-GLVC third team member and freshman Brody Norman (141, 3rd), All-GLVC first team member and redshirt freshman Cory Peterson (165, 3rd), All-GLVC second team member and junior Joshua Jones (174, 2nd), All-GLVC first team member and graduate senior Daniel Filipek (184, 2nd), and All-GLVC first team member and redshirt freshman Ian Kuehl (285, 3rd). As a team, McKendree finished third overall with 114.5 points, behind No.10 UIndy (129.5), and regional champion No.1 Central Oklahoma (153.0).
125 CLASS
Mejia (20-3), the number two-ranked 125-lb wrestler in his class, scored 16.5 team points enroute to his second place finish and went 3-1 overall. The redshirt sohpomore won his opening match via 16-1 tech fall over Central Missouri's Trevor Wishne before taking down UIndy's Noah Cantu by pinfall at the 4:39 mark. The semifinal featured a matchup against Isaac Jacquez of local-foe Lindenwood which Mejia handled via 10-5 decision. The championship put Mejia against #5 125-lbs Paxton Rosen of Central Oklahoma, which UCO's Rosen won in a tightly contested bout on a 4-3 decision.
141 CLASS
Norman (15-6) earned a qualifying bid to national through his third-place finish, winning his opening match on a 5-0 decision against Ray Rioux of UIndy before dropping his second match of the tournament by decision, 2-0, versus Colby Smith of Lindenwood. Norman then went on to defeate Maryville's Tayor Jokerst in sudden victory in the first period of extra time on a count of 6-4. The third-place match put Norman against UCO's Nate Kleim and required another sudden victory to push the freshman Bearcat to nationals on a 4-2 count.
165 CLASS
Peterson (33-4), the #3 wrestler in his class and a Valmeyer, Illinois-native, placed third in the super regional tournament with 14.0 team points. The All-GLVC first team-selection earned a tech fall in his opening match of the weekend, 26-11, over William Jewell's Caleb Benshoof. In the semifinal, Peterson faced off again against Jack Eiteljorge of UIndy, which was fought to the closing period and went in favor of Eiteljorge with a takedown on Peterson to close with a 3-1 decision. The redshirt freshman then moved over to the consolation semis, where he handled business with a major decision (14-3) over Emmett Kuntz of Central Missouri. Peterson won his third-place qualifying match against Hunter Jump of Central Oklahoma on a 4-2 decision.
174 CLASS
Jones (19-8), a second team All-GLVC selection, stuck in the championship bracket throughout his bouts with a major decison (17-5) to open the outing against Newman's JD Johnson and then defeated Tucker Caswell of Drury on 8-3 decision. In the championship semifinal, Jones punched his finals ticket with a 3-2 decision victory over Alex Kauffman of Central Oklahoma. In the finals matchup, Jones was pitted against UIndy's Andrew Sams where the two fought into a tie-breaker round. Sams defeated Jones in a hard-fought bout by 2-1 decision. The Chicago Heights, Illinois-native earned a second place finish to qualify.
184 CLASS
The third-ranked 184 wrestler, Filipek (19-2), claimed his national championships qualification with a quarterfinal win over Central Missouri's Zach Hazen on a 7-2 decision before winnings his semifinal match by major decision (10-1) over Gleason Mappes of UIndy. The championship matchup featured a #3 Filipek against the #1 184-lb Heath Gray of Central Oklahoma. First place was decided in a close 2-1 decision with Gray taking the top placement over Filipek. The graduate senior earned his bid to Chaifetz with his second-place finish.
285 CLASS
Kuehl, the GLVC Wrestler of the Year, stumbled in his first matchup with a 3-2 decision loss to Collin Braun of Central Missouri. Kuehl recovered in his first consolation bracket matchup, defeated Michael Kramer of Lindenwood with a pinfall at the 5:49 mark. In his final two matchups, Kuehl added a pair of decisions to clinch his spot at nationals. The semifinal was an 11-4 win for Kuehl over Ryan Herman f Maryville and then in the third-place match, he beat Johnny Green of Ouachita Baptist on a 5-1 count.
OVERALL
No.5 McKendree will bring all six to the NCAA DII Wrestling National Championship on March 11-12 at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.
Qualifiers
125 | #2 Christian Mejia | 2nd Place
141 | Brody Norman | 3rd Place
165 | #3 Cory Peterson | 3rd Place
174 | #12 Joshua Jones | 2nd Place
184 | #3 Daniel Filipek | 2nd Place
285 | #3 Ian Kuehl | 3rd Place
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