Final Brackets | Team Standings
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Senior 197-pounder Andy Lovins (Clinton Township, MI./Lake Shore) adds another All-American honor to the storied Heidelberg University wrestling program with his fifth place finish at the 2013 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Andy's All-American finish marks the first for second year head coach Ned Shuck.
"We have broken the ice and we will push for all ten weight classes to reach All-American status next year," said Shuck.
The Student Prince wrestled his way to the semifinals on Saturday morning with two victories on Friday evening.
Lovins entered the 197-pound weight class unseeded and drew the number one seed, Jared Myhrberg of SUNY-Cortland in the first round. Lovins battled the number one seed to a 3-2 victory.
Lovins found his next victory against the eight seed, Trent Flegel of Luther College, in the quarterfinals. Lovins narrowly edged out the Viking, 2-1 to advance to the semifinals on Saturday morning.
In the semifinals, Andy faced the number four seed Mike Benfiel from Elmhurst College. Benefiel handed Lovins his first loss of the tournament, pinning the Student
Prince in a time of 2:16.
Benefiel would go on to win the 197-pound individual title.
Following the loss, Lovins dropped into the consolation semifinal round where he needed one victory to move on to the third place match. Lovins opponent in the consolation semifinals would be Jared Myhrberg who Lovins beat in the first round.
Myhrberg got the better of Lovins in their second meeting defeating the Student Prince with a third period pin in 6:47.
Following Lovins second loss of the tournament, he moved into the fifth place match against three seed, Aaron Karnes of Delaware Valley College. Lovins surrendered the first takedown of the match but managed to rally and tie the match at 3-3 at the end of regulation sending the match into sudden death overtime.
The two grapplers would need the entire one-minute period of sudden death to decide a winner. A takedown on the edge of the mat with one second remaining on the clock propelled Lovins to a fifth place finish in Cedar Rapids.
"I feel very blessed to have worked with Andy the last two years, Shuck. "He is a great young man and a great wrestler. He has made some great improvements over a short period of time and that made him successful in this tournament.
Andy finishes the 2012-13 season with an overall record of 25-8. Lovins’ 25 victories are impressive considering the Berg grappler missing the first half of the season because of the extended 2012 Heidelberg University football season.
"I can always count on Andy to fight for the full seven minutes and he always has a positive attitude," said Shuck
Lovins will add his fifth place finish at the 2013 Wrestling NCAA Championships to an already impressive resume. As a Heidelberg student-athlete, Andy was a two-time national qualifier and has earned three Academic All-American honors, an Ohio Athletic Conference Athlete of the Month selection, a Mideast Regional individual championship, an OAC individual championship.
The Heidelberg wrestling team will move into the off season in hopes of defending their 2012-13 regular season championship.
"The work to get all ten weight classes to reach All-American status begins now," proclaimed Shuck.
