By Jake Nase / Full360 Digital Producer
What a weekend it was for Delval Men’s Wrestling!
The Delaware Valley men’s wrestling team competed on February 24nd-25rd at the 2023 NCAA Division Southeast Regional Tournament. Ten Aggie wrestlers traveled to York, Pennsylvania to compete in the prestigious tournament against over twenty division III wrestling teams in the southeast region.
The Aggies would face off against college teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina.
After two long hard-fought days of wrestling, DelVal finished the tournament placing seventh with 82 points. The Aggies had six of the ten wrestlers competing in the regional tournament placing in the top eight of their respective weight classes.
The Aggies were led by first-year Jacob Blair with a second-place finish in the 125-pound weight class. With a top-three finish in the Southeast Region, Blair was able to advance to the NCAA Division III National Championships in Roanoke Virginia.
Blair would start off the day with a massive upset victory over returning NCAA Division III All-American Riley Parker of Washington & Lee University. Blair would go on to win his quarterfinal match over Evan Whiteside of Theil College and win his semifinal match over Austin Fashouer of Wilkes.
Blair would lose his finals match in overtime to eventual NCAA Division III All-American Mason Barrett of Averett. Jacob Blair would earn the silver medal in the 125-pound division
Ryan Arndt made it all the way to the semi-finals of the 133-pound division, where he would fall to eventual NCAA Division III National Finalist Dalton Rohrbaugh of York College. Arndt would eventually earn fifth place.
After a massive win in the quarterfinals in the heavyweight division, Senior Austin Williams would compete in the semifinals of the region for the first time in his career.
Williams would lose a hard-fought semi-final match to eventual region champion Michael Dooley of Stevens Institute of Technology. Williams would end the tournament placing sixth for the Aggies.
Three other wrestlers placed for the Aggies as well at the tournament in York Pennsylvania.
First year Luke Moore placed sixth at 174 pounds. Junior Dan Eckley placed sixth at 197 pounds. First year Jaden Roberts earned seventh place at 184 pounds.
One year ago, Delval wrestling placed fifteenth at the Southeast Region Tournament and placed two wrestlers. This year, the Aggies took seventh and placed six wrestlers. A massive jump for head coach Andrew Taylor and his squad.