TIFFIN, Ohio—Junior Andy Lovins (Clinton Township, Mich./Lake Shore) won an individual title in the 197-pound weight class today to lead the Heidelberg University wrestling team to a third-place finish at the 2012 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships hosted by Heidelberg at Seiberling Gymnasium in Tiffin, Ohio. Eight more Student Princes finished the in the top three of their respective weight class.
Sophomore 125-pounder Delian Schneider (Tiffin/Columbian), senior 133-pounder Jake Weisman (Bexley), sophomore 141-pounder Chris Osborne (McComb), junior 149-pounder Andrew Johnson (Weston/Ostego) and sophomore 165-pounder Justin Wharton (Oregon/Clay) also advanced to the finals.
Guided by first-year head coach Ned Shuck, the Berg netted 80.5 points, trailing the University of Mount Union, which totaled 90, and Ohio Northern University, which tallied 89. John Carroll University came in fourth (48), followed by Muskingum University (16.5) in fifth and Baldwin-Wallace College (13) in sixth.
After receiving a first round bye, Lovins took a 16-3 major decision from Joseph Georgian (B-W) before scoring a pin fall over Michael Pawlitz of ONU in 3:42 to take the title.
Schneider, Weisman and Wharton also received byes in the first round.
Schneider defeated John Cobos of JCU, 7-6, before falling to Mount Union’s Riki Reynolds, 16-1, in the championship. Weisman took a 6-4 decision from Bryant Roby of Mount Union before dropping a 6-3 decision to ONU’s Jeremy Jones. Wharton scored an 8-6 decision against Sean Gill of JCU, but fell, 16-0, to ONU’s Billy Painter in the finals.
Osborne needed a 19-4 technical fall over Brock Yackey of Muskingum and a 10-0 shutout of Rudolph Pataro of ONU before advancing to the championship round. In the finals, Osborne led Mount Union’s Josh Malave for much of the match before suffering a reversal as the third period drew to a close. A riding time point helped Osborne take the match into overtime, but he was eventually edged, 4-2.
Johnson recorded two straight pins over Kenny Poland of Muskingum and Greg Ryan of JCU in a combined 9:54 before falling to Mount Union’s Kevin Shadrach, 17-2.
Sophomore 174-pounder Jeremy Stepp (Cincinnati/Princeton) and senior heavyweight Jerry Knapp (Columbia Station/Olmsted Falls) each placed third with 2-1 overall records.
Terner Gott of JCU, Kyle Kwiat of ONU and Mount Union’s Andy Jenkins and Derick Hesson also were crowned champions.
Kwiat was named the tournament’s most valuable wrestler as well as wrestler of the year, while Cody Lovejoy recorded the most pins (two) in the least amount of time (4:27). ONU 24th-year head coach Ron Beaschler was named OAC coach of the year.
The individual champion in each weight class and one at-large selection earn a berth in the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championship in Wisconsin – La Crosse.
