Myhrberg Finishes Third, Bistis and Giaramita Each Eighth at NCAA Wrestling Championships
March 10, 2012

 

Jared Myhrberg earned All-America honors with a third-place finish at 197 pounds. He finished the season 33-1 and set a school single-season record with 17 pins.

La CROSSE, WIS. - Cortland junior Jared Myhrberg (Queensbury) finished third at 197 pounds, sophomore Brian Bistis (Whitehouse Station, NJ/Hunterdon Central) placed eighth at 141 pounds and freshman Joey Giaramita (Elwood/John H. Glenn) finished eighth at 285 pounds to earn All-America honors during the final day of competition at the NCAA Div. III Championships. The tournament was held for the second straight year at The La Crosse Center.

Cortland finished 10th in the final team standings with 31.5 points. The Red Dragons finished in the top 10 nationally for the ninth time and the first time since tying for eighth in 2007. Wartburg College (Iowa) won its second straight national title and ninth overall, followed by Augsburg College (Minn.) in second place.

Myhrberg, seeded second, suffered his first loss of the season with a 4-2 overtime setback to third-seeded Dustin Baxter of St. John's (Minn) in the championship semifinals. The wrestlers entered overtime tied 1-1 and neither scored in the first sudden-victory period. In the first tiebreaker round, Myhrberg started down and escaped quickly, but Baxter recorded a takedown with five seconds left to take a 3-2 lead. In the second portion of the tiebreaker, Baxter escaped and Myhrberg was unable to record the tying takedown.

Myhrberg bounced back to win his final two matches. He pinned fifth-seeded Trent Flegel of Luther in 57 seconds and earned a 6-2 decision over fourth-seeded Brad Baus of Augsburg in the third-place match. Myhrberg finishes the season with a 33-1 record, including a 4-1 mark at nationals, and has set a new school single-season record with 17 pins. He earned the "most falls" award at nationals with three in a combined time of 6:31.

Bistis, seeded eighth, opened action Saturday with an 8-6 loss to fourth-seeded Will Keeter of Augsburg. Keeter broke a 6-6 tie with a takedown in the final 30 seconds. Bistis then lost in the seventh-place match to seventh-seeded Josh Malave of Mt. Union, 5-2. Bistis finished 2-3 at the NCAA championships and 26-9 on the season.

Giaramita, who entered nationals unseeded, also finished eighth place with a 2-3 mark. He completes the season with a 24-11 record. He lost, 7-2, in his opening match to fifth-seeded Ryan Fank of Wartburg and dropped a 3-2 decision to third-seeded Joseph Zitone of Centenary (N.J.).






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