Armdrag.com: Four Cortland Wrestlers Earn NCAA Berths; Red Dragons Place Third at Regional

Four Cortland Wrestlers Earn NCAA Berths; Red Dragons Place Third at Regional https://t.co/og1GOlgYcR
— Cortland Athletics (@RedDragonPride) February 28, 2022

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA. - Four Cortland wrestlers earned berths into the NCAA Division III Championships by virtue of top-three finishes, including three weight-class champions, at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional. The two-day event was hosted by Elizabethtown College.

Heading to nationals are regional champions J.C. Cardenas (Brooklyn/Grand Street Campus) at 133 pounds, Chandler Merwin (Walton) at 149 pounds and Demitreus Henry (Brooklyn/Grand Street Campus) at 174 pounds. Brian Torres (Brooklyn/Grand Street Campus) also earned a national spot with his third-place finish at 184 pounds. Merwin and Henry were both NCAA qualifiers in 2020 and were a day away from competing at the championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when the meet was canceled due to COVID-19. This year's championship is also scheduled to be held in Cedar Rapids March 11-12.

Two other Red Dragons - Cody Merwin (Walton) at 125 pounds and Ryan Burgbacher (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) at 141 pounts - narrowly missed qualifying for nationals with fourth-place efforts. The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the NCAA championships.

Cortland finished third out of 20 schools in the final team standings with 123 points. The College of New Jersey won the team title with 163.5 points, followed by Ithaca (135.5), Cortland, RIT (119) and Ursinus (95) in the top five.

Cardenas, ranked second in the region at 133 pounds, finished the tournament 4-0 with three pins and a major decision. After two pins on Saturday, Cardenas pinned regionally fourth-ranked Jacey Jones of Centenary in 5:26 in the semifinals and earned a 16-3 major decision over Luis Hernandez of Ithaca in the finals. Cardenas improved to 17-3 on the season.

Chandler Merwin went 5-0 to win the 149-pound title. Ranked first regionally and 14th nationally, Merwin was 3-0 on Saturday and opened Sunday's action with a 5-2 win over Cameron Bruffy of Centenary in the semifinals. In the finals against regionally third-ranked Michael Conklin of TCNJ, Merwin led 8-5 after one period and was tied 8-8 after two periods. He took the lead on an escape with 40 seconds left, but riding time allowed TCNJ to force overtime. With no winner after the first two-minute sudden victory period, Merwin scored the decisive point on an escape in the first tiebreaker period. Merwin will enter nationals with a 30-5 record.

Henry claimed his second straight regional title with a 4-0 record at 174 points. Ranked first regionally and seventh nationally, Henry posted two wins Saturday and started Sunday with a 6-0 semifinal victory over Will Laughlin of Scranton. That set up a championship match against regionally second-ranked and nationally eighth-ranked Charlie Grygas of Oswego.

Henry and Grygas split a pair of nail-biters during the season, with Grygas winning in overtime in November at the New York State Collegiate Championships and Henry winning on a takedown in the final 20 seconds during a home dual match earlier this month. In the regional final, the match was scoreless after one period before Henry jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second on two takedowns and a four-point near fall. He led 9-2 after an escape in the third, but Grygas stormed back late with a takedown and a four-point near fall in the final 15 seconds before Henry held on for the 9-8 victory. Henry improved to 29-2 on the season with the win.

Torres entered Sunday needing three straight wins in the consolation bracket to take third place at 184 pounds. Ranked third regionally, Torres started his run with an 8-0 major decision over Grant Walnoha of Johns Hopkins, followed by a 5-2 win versus Brockport's Christopher Eames. In the third-place match against regionally fifth-ranked Gary Nagle of Ursinus, Torres led 2-1 after the second period and he broke a 2-2 tie with a takedown with 40 seconds left in regulation. Nagle tied the match on a reversal, but Torres got an escape, a late takedown a riding time point for an 8-4 victory. Torres enters nationals with a 25-8 record.

Cody Merwin, ranked third regionally, finished in fourth place at 125 pounds with a 3-2 record. He began Sunday with a 3-2 overtime loss to regionally fifth-ranked Joey Lamparelli of Muhlenberg in the semifinals. Merwin led 1-0 after two periods. Lamparelli took the lead on a reversal with 1:11 left, but Merwin tied it with an escape with 47 seconds left to force overtime. The match went into the first tiebreaker before Lamparelli scored on an escape point and eventually won, 3-2.

Merwin moved into the third-place match after winning, 3-2, over regionally sixth-ranked Ryan Rosenthal of TCNJ, with the decisive point coming on a third-period escape. In the third-place match, Merwin lost, 9-6, to regionally second-ranked Terry Adams of Ursinus. The match was tied at 4-4 early in the third before Adams took control with two takedowns in the final 45 seconds. Merwin finishes the season with a 23-7 record.

Burgbacher placed fourth at 141 pounds with a 5-2 record. After going 3-1 on Saturday, the regionally sixth-ranked Burgbacher needed three wins on Sunday to head to nationals. He earned the first two of those victories with a 9-6 decision over Alfred State's Sean Peterson and a pin in 1:06 against Noah Hunt of Penn College of Technology. Burgbacher was down 6-4 in the third to Peterson before tying it on a reversal and taking the lead on a two-point near fall. In the third-place match, however, Burgbacher dropped a 10-0 verdict to Xavier Pena of Centenary. Burgbacher closes the season with an 11-5 record.