Wrestling:  Release Notes

2008 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships

Friday-Saturday, March 7-8

Three Earn All-America Honors

    (Cedar Rapids,Iowa)-Eleven wrestlers represented the OAC (Ohio Athletic Conference) at the 2008 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at U.S. Cellular Arena, Friday-Saturday, March 7-8. Heidelberg, the OAC Tournament Champions finished 18th overall and placed two on the All-America list (top eight earn All-America honors).

    Heidelberg 285-pound senior Ryan Bowers (Lima/Elida) made his second appearance at the tournament. Bowers made it all the way to the semifinal round and was guaranteed a place before losing his first match of the tournament to Dan Laurent from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, who pinned Bowers in 6:25. Bowers went onto lose his next two matches and place sixth and earn All-America honors. He finished the two-day event at 2-3, 32-8 on the year.

     Berg senior Ryan Fogliano (Maple Heights) lost in the consolation quarterfinals that could have guaranteed him at least a sixth place finish, to a wrestler he had defeated twice previously was heartbreaking, regardless of the 197-pound grappler having already grabbed a definite spot on the All-American list. Fogliano fell to Alec Bonander from Luther College 6-3, but came back in the match for seventh and eighth to defeat Andy Neumann from Concordia Moorhead 10-2. Neumann had beat Fogliano 7-4 in the first round of competition on Friday. Fogliano finished the tournament 2-2, 16-3 on the year.

  Three other Berg wrestlers that made the trip to Cedar Rapids, Jerrad Hoxie (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forest Hills Northern) at 125, Nick Sanchez (Lima/ Bath) at 141, and Zach Mizer (Canton/ Perry) at 149, all went 1-2 without placing.
Hoxie, the lone freshman at the show for Heidelberg, lost his first match, won his second 14-0 against Ethan Cohen from Williams, and then was defeated again by David Penny from Ohio Northern University 7-4. 
Sanchez, a three-time qualifier, won his first match against James Beshada from the Merchant Marine Academy 7-4, but lost his next two, ending his final shot for the coveted All-American status. Sanchez ends his career at Heidelberg with a 27-6 record and 104-37 over his four years as a Student Prince. He stands third all the all-time career win list. 
Lastly, Mizer, much like Hoxie, lost his first match-up, won his second against Matthew Shank from Gettysburg 2-1, and then lost again and was eliminated. Mizer completes his 2008 campaign with a 29-12 record.

     Baldwin-Wallace senior 165-pounder Gino Russo (Northfield Center/ Macedonia Nordonia) had a 3-3 record, placed sixth for the second straight season and earned All-America honors for the second straight year. Russo ended his season with a 27-5 record and had a 92-29 career mark.

   John Carroll 133-pound senior Adam Pizzurro (Westerville) made his second consecutive appearance at the NCAA National Championships after capturing his second consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference title. Unfortunately, he followed a similar script to 2007 by facing Nichalos Nothern of Cornell College, the #6 seed, in his first match of the day.

Nothern, who was 2-0 lifetime against Pizzurro (which included a match at the 2007 national Championships), improved his record to 3-0 with an 8-3 decision.

    Pizzurro was hoping to win his first career match at the NCAA tournament ,but that dream and his collegiate career would end in his consolation match as he suffered a loss to Brandon Clemmer of Delaware Valley. He would end his senior year with a record of 23-13.

    JCU 184-pound junior Ben Adams (Livonia, MI), who made his first appearance at the NCAA Championships, started off well by pulling off a 10-6 upset of #6 seed Nick Coleman from New York University.

   Through the luck of the draw, however, the seeds would only get tougher. He would lose in the national quarterfinals to #3 seed Gabe Youel of North Central College. Youel, whose 44 victories was second highest in all of Division III this season, had to go to overtime to defeat Adams, 7-5, in the first sudden victory session.

   After that emotional loss, Adams would fall, 15-7, to Eric Fishel of Johns Hopkins. Adams ends his season with a record of 30-6

    Muskingum 157-pound senior Dave Minner's quest for an NCAA Championship ended Friday. Minner dropped his first bout against top-seed Aaron Wernimont of Wartburg College. Minner stumbled in a 14-2 major decision setback against Wernimont. Following the loss, Minner rumbled with eighth-seed John Niedrich of York College. Minner suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 decision against Niedrich to end his NCAA run and his outstanding season (31-13).

    Ohio Northern junior David Penny (Union/Milton-Union) finished among the top 16 wrestlers in the 125-pound weight class with a 1-2 record on Friday. Penny (29-10) posted a 7-4 victory over Jerrod Hoxie of Heidelberg in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket early Friday evening, but was eliminated just one win shy of earning All-America honors with a 7-1 loss to No. 7 seeded Munkhbaatar Baatar of St. John's (Minn.) late Friday night in the consolation semifinals.

   ONU senior Ben Plowman (Maumee) (22-10) was eliminated from the Consolation bracket at 174 pounds by Kyle Kehrli (32-10) of Cornell (Iowa) by an 11-1 count Friday evening.

Ohio Northern’s Beaschler Inducted Into

National Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame

-Story provided by the ONU Sports Information Department

     (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) — Ohio Northern wrestling coach Ron Beaschler was inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame during the NWCA banquet on Thursday evening in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

     The ceremony took place the evening before the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships got underway Friday and Saturday.

      A McCutchensville, Ohio, native, Beaschler is the chairperson of the Human Performance and Sport Sciences department at ONU. He also is an assistant professor in the department and coordinates the sport management program at Ohio Northern.

He served as chair of Division III NCAA Wrestling committee for two years, was the president of the NWCA, which represents all collegiate and scholastic wrestling in the United States and was the Division III representative on the NWCA executive board of directors.

    Beaschler currently serves as the Weight Management Program liaison to the NCAA Wrestling Committee.

    In his 20 seasons at the helm of the ONU wrestling program, Beaschler’s teams have posted a 194-154-4 record. Beaschler is the all-time winningest coach in ONU history and also has the longest tenure as head wrestling coach at ONU.  During his time at ONU, Beaschler has coached two National Champions, two National Runners-up, 13 All-Americans, 27 Scholar All-Americans and five Scholar All-American Teams. He was named OAC Coach of the Year by his peers in 1993.

   His teams have won six OAC titles and his squads are a league-best 45-10 in OAC dual meet competition since the inception of the current regular season round-robin format in 2000.

   Beaschler graduated from Ohio Northern in 1986 with bachelors degrees in management and sports management. He received his masters degree in education from Bowling Green State University in 1988 and is currently working on his Ph.D. at the University of Toledo.