PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- If Johnson & Wales holds on and wins the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, Dylan Harr will deserve as much credit as anyone for making it happen.
The Wildcats head into Saturday's finals with 75.5 points, one more than Wartburg and 1.5 ahead of Augsburg. Each of those three teams has two finalists, but Johnson & Wales might have the edge since both of its finalists are top seeds.
And with a race that close, it becomes an entire team effort. And Harr played a crucial role in keeping the Wildcats on top. He pinned Ben Kawczynski of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the consolation quarterfinal and later scored a major decision in his fifth-place match over Ian Pepple of UW-Eau Claire.
Those wins supplied Johnson & Wales with 7.5 points.
"It's something very special for me," Harr said. "It's a very individual sport, some people say, but we kind of preach the team aspect."
As tournament hosts, the Wildcats have had strong support in the stands at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
"The city being behind us, the whole student section, all the alumni, the fans, the family, the friends ... it makes it a lot more important and gives you a little more to fight for," Harr said.
The wrestlebacks also take on more importance when you're fighting for team points.
"It stinks when you lose on the front side, but you've got to burn down the backdoor," Harr said. "That makes all the difference. Those matches, that's where you get the extra bonus, especially in a tight team race like this. Johnson & Wales has never won before, so we're hoping to do something really special here."
Harr's history adds meaning for him.
He graduated from high school in 2016, spent a redshirt freshman season at Pittsburgh, going 0-4, and then was out of school for a few years. He returned to college in 2021-22 for Johnson & Wales and has finished fourth, fifth and fifth the past three years.
"I had taken a couple of years off from wrestling, and I had gotten in contact with Coach Lonnie (Morris), and it's changed my life for the better. It's been four years of just extraordinary events."
A title for Johnson & Wales would be an extraordinary event.
Nobody but Augsburg and Wartburg has won the team title since 1994, and it also would be the first in school history.
Johnston & Wales entered the second day of the event with 49.5 points, while Wartburg had 48.5 and Augsburg 46.
North Central took a brief lead when Christian Guzman won his semifinal at 125 pounds, but two-time champion Joziah Fry won the other semi moments later to set up a rematch of last year's final and moved Johnson & Wales back to the top,
The Wildcats led Wartburg 73.5-70 entering the placing matches, but a pin in the seventh-place match by Chance Suddeth pushed Augsburg ahead of Wartburg 72-70.5.
Wartburg reclaimed second at 141, when freshman Tommy Tongseng, whose three high school seasons ended with losses in placing matches at the California state tournament, won by major decision in the seventh-place match at 141, giving the Knights a half-point advantage for second.
Harr's two points for fifth place gave the Wildcats 75.5 points, and they needed both as Wartburg's Kasey Ross placed fifth at 184 and Kyler Romero took third at 149, giving the Knights two more points, and Seth Goetzinger placed third at 174 with a major decision that gave the Auggies two more points.
Saturday night's finals setup will just enhance the team race.
The night will begin at 133 with Coast Guard's Chase Randall, the defending champion, facing Coe's Bryce Parke. The second match features Sean Conley, the first finalist for the University of Chicago since the Peter Wong won back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992 against the first finalist in Roanoke school history, Mark Samuel, who beat defending champion Josh Wilson of Greensboro 2-1 in an overtime tiebreaker.
Johnson & Wales' Hayden Brown follows at 149 against second seed Angelo Centrone of Cortland State, then Baldwin Wallace's Michael Petrella goes for his third tile, taking on Cooper Pontelandolfo of New York University at 157.
Augsburg will be featured in two of the next three finals. First, Cooper Willis faces Matt Lackman of Alvernia at 165. After Lackman's brother Nathan goes after a third title at 174 against defending champion Jared Stricker of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Brandt Bombard takes the mat for Augsburg against Marcus Orlandoni of Wisconsin-La Crosse in a rematch of the Region 7 title that Bombard won 5-3.
Wartburg takes center stage in the next two matches with Massoma Endene going for a third title at 197 against second seed Cameron Butka of Wilkes, followed by the Knights' unseeded Mitch Williamson facing eighth-seeded Carl DiGiorgio of Coast Guard in the final at 285.
The night closes with the rematch between Fry and Guzman at 125 with a third title for Fry -- and perhaps the team title at stake.
TWO FIRSTS FOR SCHREINER
Austin Cooley made history twice this weekend.
First, he was Schreiner's first national qualifier at the NCAA Division III level. And then he became the school's first Division III All-American in wrestling Saturday when he placed fifth at 285 pounds.
"It means the world to me getting to come here and being the first from my school," he said.
Cooley, an Oklahoma high school state champion in 2020, pinned Adolfo Betancur of Johnson & Wales in 2:05 to claim fifth place at 285 pounds to cap a weekend of goods and bads.
"More or less I am (happy with the way he wrestled)," Cooley said. "You're your own worst critic, so I feel like I could have won the last two matches I lost, but I'm glad I came as far as I can.
Coast Guard's Carl DiGiorgio beat Cooley 4-2 in the semifinals and Josh Harkless of Rochester Institute of Technology beat him 8-2 in the consolation semifinals Saturday.
He hopes this is just a start for the program.
"We've only been an NCAA Division III team for a few years ... and we have a lot of kids who have potential to come here and become and All-American and win it, and I hope being the first one can start a chain reaction," Cooley said.
WILD, JUST WILD
In what had to be one of the wildest matches in Division III championships history, Andrew Supers of Baldwin Wallace outlasted Jake Deguire of Springfield 22-21 for fifth place at 165 pounds. In a match featuring several back-to-back flurries -- one wrestler on his back reversing the other to his back -- Supers pulled out the victory with 1:52 of riding time.
NCAA DIV. III NATIONALS
At Providence, R.I., March 14-15, 2025
Finals pairings and medal match results
125
Finals - No. 1 Joziah Fry (JWU (Providence)) vs. No. 2 Christian Guzman (North Central (IL))
3rd Place Match - Mason Barrett (Averett) 31-5 won in tie breaker - 1 over Zach Beckner (Ferrum) 22-2 (TB-1 2-2)
5th Place Match - Brayden Parke (Coe) 28-7 won by decision over Jake Craig (Southern Me.) 28-8 (Dec 4-0)
7th Place Match - Benyamin Kamali (Olivet) 30-4 won by decision over Keito Shaw (Alvernia) 25-10 (Dec 10-4)
133
Finals - No. 1 Chase Randall (Coast Guard) vs. No. 7 Bryce Parke (Coe)
3rd Place Match - Jaden Hinton (Baldwin Wallace) 34-7 won by tech fall over James Day (Wabash) 39-7 (TF-1.5 4:18 (17-1))
5th Place Match - Dominik Mallinder (Wis.-Whitewater) 25-4 won by fall over Garrett Totten (TCNJ) 21-3 (Fall 1:54)
7th Place Match - Chance Suddeth (Augsburg) 29-8 won by fall over Connor Kidd (Luther) 22-14 (Fall 1:50)
141
Finals - No. 5 Mark Samuel (Roanoke) vs. unseeded Sean Conway (UChicago)
3rd Place Match - Bradley Rosen (North Central (IL)) 26-3 won by major decision over Ty Bisek (Concordia-M`head) 30-2 (MD 22-12)
5th Place Match - Josh Wilson (Greensboro) 30-3 won by decision over Pierre Baldwin (Central (IA)) 25-4 (Dec 4-2)
7th Place Match - Tommy Thongseng (Wartburg) 27-10 won by major decision over Luke Hoerle (Stevens) 17-6 (MD 12-3)
149
Finals - No. 1 Hayden Brown (JWU (Providence)) vs. No. 2 Angelo Centrone (Cortland)
3rd Place Match - Kyler Romero (Wartburg) 31-2 won by decision over Matt Randolph (Augsburg) 31-4 (Dec 3-1)
5th Place Match - Thomas Monn (McDaniel) 35-3 won by fall over Colby Frost (Southern Me.) 38-4 (Fall 4:09)
7th Place Match - Michael Conklin (TCNJ) 37-7 won by major decision over Mike Glynn (RIT) 26-5 (MD 9-0)
157
Finals - No. 1 Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) vs. No. 3 Cooper Pontelandolfo (NYU)
3rd Place Match - Eric Kinkaid (Loras) 27-4 won by decision over Aiden Smith (Adrian) 32-3 (Dec 4-3)
5th Place Match - Peter Kane (Williams) 42-2 won by major decision over Tyler Goebel (Wis.-La Crosse) 27-5 (MD 11-2)
7th Place Match - Ryan Smith (Stevens) 25-6 won by decision over Clayton McDonough (Luther) 33-9 (Dec 7-3)
165
Finals - No. 1 Matt Lackman (Alvernia) vs. No. 3 Cooper Willis (Augsburg)
3rd Place Match - Tanner Gerber (Wis.-La Crosse) 22-2 won by major decision over Brayden Peet (Wis.-Whitewater) 25-6 (MD 15-6)
5th Place Match - Andrew Supers (Baldwin Wallace) 40-6 won by decision over Jake Deguire (Springfield) 31-11 (Dec 22-21)
7th Place Match - CJ Christopher Shea (Wesleyan (CT)) 38-3 won by medical forfeit over Nicholas Sacco (TCNJ) 21-10 (M. For.)
174
Finals - No. 1 Jared Stricker (Wis.-Eau Claire) vs. No. 3 Nathan Lackman (Alvernia)
3rd Place Match - Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg) 25-5 won by major decision over Dejon Glaster (Millikin) 34-4 (MD 20-9)
5th Place Match - Hunter Mays (TCNJ) 30-8 won by decision over LJ Richardson (Coe) 25-7 (Dec 3-2)
7th Place Match - Zeb Gnida (Loras) 23-2 won by tech fall over Javen Estrada (North Central (IL)) 21-6 (TF-1.5 3:30 (17-1))
184
Finals - No. 5 Marcus Orlandoni (Wis.-La Crosse) vs. No. 3 Brandt Bombard (Augsburg)
3rd Place Match - Jack Ryan (SUNY Oneonta) 35-2 won in sudden victory - 1 over Ganon Smith (Elizabethtown) 36-5 (SV-1 4-1)
5th Place Match - Kasey Ross (Wartburg) 31-3 won by decision over Tyler Withers (Merchant Marine) 33-6 (Dec 6-5)
7th Place Match - Jared Voss (Coe) 27-6 won by fall over Xavier Pommells (Ithaca) 29-13 (Fall 2:24)
197
Finals - No. 1 Massoma Endene (Wartburg) vs. No. 2 Cameron Butka (Wilkes)
3rd Place Match - Charles Baczek (Wabash) 30-3 won by decision over Joseph Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) 27-4 (Dec 5-0)
5th Place Match - Dylan Harr (JWU (Providence)) 12-5 won by major decision over Ian Pepple (Wis.-Eau Claire) 37-14 (MD 13-3)
7th Place Match - Ben Kawczynski (Wis.-La Crosse) 23-7 won by major decision over Jackson Punzel (Wheaton (IL)) 15-9 (MD 10-0)
285
Finals - No. 8 Carl DiGiorgio (Coast Guard) vs. Unseeded Mitch Williamson (Wartburg)
3rd Place Match - Josh Harkless (RIT) 33-1 won by decision over Rayshawn Dixon (Ferrum) 30-2 (Dec 4-2)
5th Place Match - Austin Cooley (Schreiner) 29-4 won by fall over Adolfo Betancur (JWU (Providence)) 27-9 (Fall 2:05)
7th Place Match - Mauro Pellot (Alvernia) 20-5 won by decision over Robby Bates (North Central (IL)) 27-7 (Dec 7-5)
NCAA Div. III Team Standings after Session III
1 JWU (Providence) 75.5
2 Wartburg 74.5
3 Augsburg 74.0
4 Baldwin Wallace 65.0
5 Wis.-La Crosse 61.0
6 Coe 60.0
6 North Central (IL) 60.0
8 Alvernia 54.0
9 TCNJ 38.0
10 Wis.-Eau Claire 36.5
11 Coast Guard 35.5
12 Wabash 32.5
13 Wis.-Whitewater 31.0
14 Ferrum 27.5
15 Loras 27.0
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