Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

Feb. 26, 2022 - The NCAA Division III Lower Midwest Wrestling Regional came to a close on Saturday night at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa as some of the top-ranked wrestlers in the country clashed under the same roof. After two days of competition, the No. 2/7 Loras College wrestling team saw four Duhawks punch their ticket to the NCAA Division III National Championship in No. 6 Zeke Smith, No. 13 Gabe Fiser, No. 5 Jacob Krakow and No. 2 Shane Liegel. 

Smith made his way to the championship match in the 157 lb. weight class but first had to go through Joaquin Bautista from the University of the Ozarks. Smith made easy work of Bautista, winning by an 18-0 technical fall before breezing by Cornell College's Killian Perrigon in the second round, winning by another dominant 18-1 technical fall. Smith secured a spot in the championship match after downing North Central College's No. 13 Cole Cervantes by a 5-3 decision. In the championship bout, it was an American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) rivalry matchup between Wartburg College's No. 2 David Hollingsworth, seeing Smith qualify for Nationals after finishing second in the weight class. 

Wrestling at 165 lbs. for the Duhawks was No. 13 Fiser, whose weekend started with a first-round tilt against Huntingdon College's Gabriel Pittman. Fiser made his way into the next round after an 11-2 major decision victory over Pittman before taking down Wartburg's Antwon Pugh in a nail-biter of a match, winning by 3-1 sudden victory. The junior secured his spot in the championship match after taking down Cornell's No. 11 Casey Allen by a 3-2 tiebreaker to face Millikin University standout No. 2 Bradan Birt in the championship where he took second, securing his spot at nationals. 

No. 5 Krakow cruised his way through the 174 lb. bracket after earning an opening-round 16-0 technical fall over Augustana College's Jack Patting before going toe-to-toe with Jacob Sherzer of Cornell. Krakow recorded his second-straight technical fall with a solid 16-1 victory over the regional foe before he met Coe College's No. 9 Tristan Westphal. The senior made his way to the championship matchup after taking a 2-1 decision over Westphal and earned Regional Champion accolades after Wartburg's No. 2 Zane Mulder was forced to medically forfeit, punching Krakow's ticket to Cedar Rapids. 

No. 2 Liegel, the Duhawks highest-ranked wrestler, competed at 184 lbs. and opened up his weekend against Ozarks' Vincent Christy, winning by fall in just 1:35. The junior grappler then had to go up against Luther College's Isaiah Mitchell where Liegel earned his second pin of the weekend to advance and take on Coe's No. 9 Ryan Schott. Liegel was just one point away from a technical fall over Schott, walking away with an impressive 15-1 major decision before he saw Wartburg's No. 1 Kyle Briggs in the championship match. In rematch from the rivalry dual two weeks prior, the two best wrestlers in the country battled for seven minutes but Liegel walked away with a vengeful 6-0 win by decision to be named Regional Champion and earn a spot at Nationals. 

Five Duhawks earned podium finishes on the weekend with No. 11 Jared Hensley finishing fourth in the 125 lbs. bracket while Aiden Evans finished sixth at 133 lbs. Jalen Schropp, the Duhawks' 141 lb. competitor earned a fourth-place finish in the tournament and No. 9 Daniel Ruiz took fourth at 149 lbs. Brady Vogel rounded out the Duhawks' podium finishers with a fourth-place finish at 197 lbs. as the Duhawks took second in the team scores with a combined score of 149.5 points. 

The NCAA Division III National Championship, hosted by the American Rivers Conference, is set to begin on Friday, Mar. 11 and run through Saturday, Mar. 12 at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with tickets available for purchase here.