Complete Results

The No. 8 Lindenwood Lions have advanced seven wrestlers to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships. Lindenwood finished second in its first appearance at the NCAA Division II Central Super Regional.

Steven Butler won the first regional title in school history by winning heavyweight class. Other placewinners were Kyle Webb in second, Marco Tamayo in third, Terrel Wilbourn, Derrick Weller, and John McArdle in fourth, and Kenny Breaux in fifth.

The Lions finished with a team score of 99.5 which was good enough for second place. No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney was just seven points better than Lindenwood to lead all team scores at 106.5 points. The Lions finished above many nationally ranked teams including No. 3 St. Cloud State, No. 4 Central Oklahoma, No. 6 Upper Iowa, No. 15 Fort Hays, and No. 17 Ouachita Baptist.

Day One Recap

Tamayo won both of his matches by decision and has moved on to the semifinal match to face No. 3 TJ North in the 125 semifinal match. Webb will take on MIAA foe Brock Coutu in the semi-final for the 133 weight class after he was victorious in his first two matches of the tournament.

No. 3 McArdle scored a pin in his first match followed by a decision to place him in semifinal action in the 184 weight class. No. 4 Butler dominated his opponents by pinning his first one in less than 30 seconds and his next victory by pin at the 5:21 mark. Butler will be featured in a heavyweight semifinal showdown with No. 3 Logan Hopp.

No. 4 Wilbourn started his day with a pin and then fell to No. 5 Jordan Basks. Wilbourn won his first match in the consolation bracket and will be in action in the 149 consolation quarterfinal match. Weller had a long day wrestling into the tournament with a 10-0 major decision followed by a 7-4 decision and then ran into No. 1 Cory Dauphin as he fell in a major decision. Weller won his next match and has moved to the consolation quarterfinal in the 157 weight class. Breaux was victorious in his first match but faced No. 2 Carl Broghammer and was sent to the consolation bracket. Breaux did his job and is still alive in the 197 consolation quarterfinal.

Three Lions bowed out on Friday including senior Matt Katusin. Katusin was in a tough 133 bracket which he faced No. 5 Nathan Rodriguez and fell 5-0. The native of Omaha, Neb. finished his final season with a 20-13 record and a third place finish at the MIAA Championships.

The Lions are currently in third place with 50 points which is just three point behind Fort Hays and 11.5 behind tournament-leading Nebraska-Kearney. Central Oklahoma is 4.5 points behind the Lions as the top four teams in the tournament hail from the MIAA conference.

Day Two Recap

Tamayo fell in his semifinal match to North 6-5 but was able to win the following two matches to take third place in the 125 weight class. Webb pinned his opponent at the 4:40 mark to advance to the 141 championship. Webb faced conference opponent Charles Napier falling in a 5-2 decision to take second place.

Wilbourn won his quarterfinal and semifinal matches before falling in the consolation final 5-4 to place fourth in the 149 weight class. Weller had a long regional tournament finishing fourth in the 157 weight class after falling to No. 8 Bobby Williams in the consolation final 4-0. McArdle lost his semifinal match to Mark Fiala in a 4-3 decision and moved to the third place match where he fell to No. 4 Dallas Smith in a 12-9 decision.

Breaux kept his hopes alive when he just made the cut by winning in a 3-1 sudden victory over Joe Gomez to take fifth place in the 197 weight class. Butler was the lone champion for the Lions as he defeated Hopp in the semifinal 3-1 and scored a 6-2 decision in the championship final.

The Lindenwood wrestlers who have advanced will compete in the NCAA Division II Championship which is scheduled to take place March 14-15 from the Public Hall in Cleveland, Ohio.