NCAA DII and DIII - Day 1 Recap

Photo by Adrian Athletics (Nolan DeVriese)

DII

Grand Valley State ended Day 1 in 9^th place in the team standings at the DII NCAA championships. Leading the way is #1 seed Chris Donathan, who is into the semis at 149lbs. He earned a 6-2 decision overWatkins (King) in the first round before picking up bonus points in the quarterfinals with a tech over Doty (Upper Iowa). 

Two other All Americans for GVSU were Josh Kenny at 174lbs and Carter Blough at 285lbs. Kenny, formerly of Grandville HS, was a DII NCAA champ last season. He dropped a 4-2 decision in the quarterfinals to #7 Ortiz of McKendree. Kenny would bounce back in the blood round with a major decision over Morissette (King).

Carter Blough (Lowell HS) saw fellow Michigan Grappler Jake Swirple (Minot St, Livonia Franklin HS) in the quarterfinals. Swirple would win a 2-1 decision, locking up All American honors. Blough would bounce back with a huge 9-7 overtime win in the blood round to secure a spot on the podium.

Donathan and Swirple will wrestle in tomorrow’s semis with their national titlehopes still intact, while Kenny, Blough, and Hoover will look to wrestle back for 3^rd.  

DIII

Adrian and Olivet each saw one of their wrestlers reach the podium at the DIII NCAA tournament on Friday.  

Aiden Smith (Brighton HS) entered the tournament as the #5 seed, winning hisfirst two matches as expected before dropping a quarterfinal match to #4 Kincaid (Loras). Smith then cruised in his blood round match, winning 18-1 to lock up his first All American honors.  

Ben Kamali (Detroit CC HS) had a first-round bye before dropping his second-round match. Kamali then rattled off two solid wins on the back side to earn All American honors. In the blood round, Kamali dominated to a 12-5 decision over Bradley (Castleton). Both Smith and Kamali will look to battle back ford 3^rd tomorrow.