Ten Bears competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships at Franklin & Marshall College last weekend. For four seniors on the team, it was their last chance to fight for a ticket to Nationals. Two of them, tri-captains Jeff Schell '08 and Levon Mock '08, earned their second trips to Nationals as fourth-place finishers. But the top Bear of the weekend was Matt Gevelinger '09, in the 184-pound weight class, who finished third at the EIWA competition to secure his first-ever trip to Nationals.
The top four finishers in each weight class and seven fifth-place wild card finishers will advance to Nationals. Gevelinger was the No. 4 seed in his weight class. When he found out about his seeding result the Thursday before the tournament, he said it was a "confidence boost" for him.
"I definitely thought I could do it," Gevelinger said. "I knew what my competition was going to be and what I had to do."
Gevelinger had a terrific start to the tournament, winning both matches on Saturday to advance to the semifinal bracket the next day. He first wrestled Brooks Keefer, an unseeded wrestler from American University, and took the match easily, 10-3.
"It was a match I should win," Gevelinger said. "But you have to be prepared. If you make a mistake, there goes your season. But I did what I had to do."
Next, Gevelinger faced off against the No. 5 seed, Ken Caldwell of Navy. Going into the match, Gevelinger was a little nervous because of the close matchup, but Gevelinger took the victory 4-0.
Gevelinger's first match on Sunday was a semifinal match against the No. 1 seed Scott Ferguson of Army, to whom Gevelinger fell, 8-4.
"Going into the semi, I was pretty pumped," he said. "All the pressure was on (Ferguson). He had beaten me before and what I needed to do was to pressure him. It was an OK match."
The next consolation match was the most crucial match for Gevelinger because the winner would have advanced into the third-place match and earned a guaranteed spot to Nationals. Gevelinger's opponent was Kenji Porter from Columbia. Gevelinger had watched him wrestle at the tournament and was "pretty confident" he could win. Gevelinger proved himself correct when he beat Porter 10-2 and successfully assured himself a spot at Nationals.
By the time of the final match, the pressure was off Gevelinger. Still, he wrestled well, winning his last match against Manuel Schubert from Lehigh, 8-2, and finishing third in the tournament.
As a junior and qualifying for nationals for the first time, Gevelinger said it will be "a good chance to be exposed to everything."
"My goal is to do as much damage as possible," Gevelinger said about his hopes for Nationals.
The two other qualifiers for NCAA are two senior captains. At the 133-pound weight class, Schell, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, who also qualified for Nationals his freshman year, will return after a fierce comeback. After opening the competition with a strong win by technical fall against Matt Swallow of East Stroudsburg University, Schell lost a narrow match against No. 4 seed Joe Baker of Navy, 6-4. The loss meant that Schell had to win all of the following matches in the consolation bracket in order to move on.
Schell rebounded from the loss with a win by fall in the first minute in his final match on Saturday. He then won two more matches on Sunday, both in overtime. He upset No. 2 seed Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh in his second overtime match when he scored a takedown. After that win, Schell was back in the third-place match, which assured his spot in Nationals, though he lost the third-place match to No. 1 seed Mike Grey from Cornell, 10-4.
Mock, the No. 3 seed in the heavyweight class, has now qualified for Nationals two years in a row. He had a terrific first day of the tournament, winning both matches, but the second day didn't go as well.
"The coaches were happy with how I wrestled on Saturday," Mock said. "On Sunday, I didn't really wrestle my match."
Although Mock lost his semifinal match on Sunday, he came back in the consolation bracket by winning against No. 5 seed Maciej Jochym of Cornell, 4-3. Mock said he "controlled the match" and that was enough to get him a place in Nationals. Mock lost the third-place match, finishing fourth.
Mock said there is still more work to do before Nationals next week. He wants to "go further this year than (he) did last year," when he did not win a match.
The three Bears will leave on Tuesday. The competition will begin that Thursday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
