By Scott Farrell
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Emmanuel College put a championship stamp on the end of its first season, winning the NCWA Collegiate Cup as the association’s overall champion. The Lions won four of their five finals matches to pull away from Central Florida and Grand Valley State, taking the title with 213 points.

Central Florida took the Division I team title with 191 points, with Grand Valley State second at 188. Liberty, the defending champion, placed fourth at 97.5 and Penn State-DuBois was fifth at 92.5. Florida won its first Division II team title with 72 points, followed by the Penn State Wrestling Club with 59.5 and Colorado, with its highest finish ever in third at 53.5. Southwestern Oregon Community College won its fifth consecutive NCWA Women’s Championships with 126.5 points, with Ottawa (Kan.) second at 83.5.

Emmanuel took a huge leap in the final rounds’ opening minutes when Brent Newcomer (22-11) won the 125-pound bracket over UCF’s Timothy Sakow, taking the match by fall in 2:57. Darius Bunch then won the 133 class with a tiebreaker win in overtime, 6-4, over Nick Anthony of UCF. The pair of wins increased the distance between Emmanuel, which went into the finals rounds ahead by 12 points, and UCF, when still had three wrestlers in the finals to come but now had the added pressure of having to sweep them to still think about the title.

Geordan Speiller, the U.S. Greco-Roman champion and Pan Am Olympic qualifier, won the 174 bracket for UCF. But when Cody Chaney won the 184 title with a 6-3 decision over UCF’s Chandler Dobler, it all but clinched the championship for Emmanuel. Maveric Rechsteiner added the 197 title moments later with a 12-5 win over Matt Wagner of the U.S. Air Force Academy Prep School.

UCF finished 1-4 in its finals matches.

Other highlights included Florida winning its first national title from Trace Thome at 157 pounds. Thome didn’t give up an offensive point in the tournament, then topped Joseph Prieto of Colorado in the final, 3-1. Prieto and his brother Julian (149 pounds) were the first All-Americans in Colorado’s NCWA history.

Zachary Cooper of Grand Valley State earned the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler Award, winning the 141 bracket with an 18-1 tech fall over Will Hale of Emmanuel.

Ty Haines of Penn State-DuBois won the 149 bracket over previously-undefeated and four-time All-American Nick Cegelski of USC. Cegelski went into the match at 26-0. Haines’ title is the first for PSU-DuBois under the NCWA banner.

Ricky Padilla and Mo Fifita combined to keep an impressive streak by Air Force Academy Prep alive. Padilla won the 165 title with a 4-2 win over Austin Geerlings of Grand Valley State, 4-2, and Fifita closed the finals rounds at heavyweight with a 3-1 tiebreaker win over Jesse Gaudin of UCF. Air Force Prep has now had at least two All-Americans in the past six seasons, and has had 19 All-Americans overall in the same time frame.

William Vincent of Mott Community College (Mich.) won his first national title in his second All-American finish, pinning Stevan Webb of Connecticut in 3:26. Vincent took seventh at 174 in 2009.

In the women’s tournament, Yolanda Lawes highlighted the field by winning her fourth consecutive national title at 109 pounds, pinning Tabitha Sparks of Ottawa in 6:23. Samantha Frank of Maine won her second consecutive Most Outstanding Wrestler Award for the women’s division after taking the 101 title again, this time with a pin in 1:56 over Mali’e Gonsalves of Southwestern Oregon CC.

The tournament’s individual awards went to:
Men’s Coach of the Year: Jake Brumbelow, Emmanuel College
Men’s Most Outstanding Wrestler: Zachary Cooper, Grand Valley State
Women’s Coach of the Year: Vince Majalca, Arizona
Women’s Most Outstanding Wrestler: Samantha Frank, Maine

The tournament’s final standings and bracket results can be found at trackwrestling.com.
Here are the results for the championship matches at each weight:

125 lbs.- Brent Newcomer, Emmanuel, def. Timothy Sakow, Central Florida, by fall 2:57
133 lbs.- Darius Bunch, Emmanuel, def. Nick Anthony, Central Florida, TB-1 6-4
141 lbs. - Zach Cooper, Grand Valley State, def. Will Hale, Emmanuel, by tech fall 3:05 (16-0)
149 lbs. - Ty Haines, Penn State-DuBois, def. Nick Cegelski, USC, 8-3
157 lbs. - Trace Thome, Florida, def. Joseph Prieto, Colorado, 3-1
165 lbs. - Ricky Padilla, U.S. Air Force Prep, def. Austin Geerlings, Grand Valley State, 4-2
174 lbs. - Geordan Speiller, Central Florida, def. Joshua Ferenczy, Liberty, by fall 2:32
184 lbs. - Cody Chaney, Emmanuel, def. Chandler Dobler, Central Florida, 6-3
197 lbs. - Maveric Rechsteiner, Emmanuel, def. Matt Wagner, Air Force Prep, 12-5
235 lbs. - William Vincent, Mott CC, def. Steven Webb, Connecticut, by fall 3:26
285 lbs. - Mo Fifita, Air Force Prep, def. Jesse Gaudin, Central Florida, TB-1 3-1