DC wrestlers earn All American Honors at national competition
March 17, 2016
DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College wrestling team concluded its 2016 season by bringing home two All American Honors and a tenth place finish as a team at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Championships held this past weekend in Kissimmee, Fla.
Defiance College qualified two wrestlers for the tournament. Freshman De’Ante Evans, Liberty Township, Ohio, qualified for the tournament by placing third at the 133 pound weight class in the Great Lakes Conference tournament. Freshman Aaron Leciejewski, Springfield, Ohio, qualified for the tournament by taking second place at the 285 pound weight class in the GLC tournament.
Evans opened his tournament with a 43 second pin over Quinton Hook of Grays Harbor College. Evans dropped his next match 19-6 to Tyler Weiss from BYU but moved on to the second day of competition. Evans needed to string together 3 straight wins without a loss in order to become an All American.
On the second day, he began the same way as the he did on the first by getting a pin within the first 1:20 of the first period over Jonathan Yap from Florida. His next match required a take down in the first overtime, securing Evans the sudden victory win over Garrett Brown of Penn State - DuBois. In the blood round (round before placing), Evans got a 6-3 decision over Justus Griffith from UCF and which guaranteed him a top 8 finish and All American Honors.
On the third day of competition Evans once again opened with a pin, this time over Jacob Micheal of the Apprentice School. In the consolation quarter finals, Evans secured a 6-5 win over Dylan Carlie from Emmanuel College. In the third/fourth place match, Evans took his second loss of the tournament by a 4-0 decision to the number one seeded wrestler Mitchell Hrnyak from Grand Valley State. Evans went 6-2 for the tournament and a fourth place finish. Evans finished the season with a 24-9 record.
Leciejewski’s road to All American status wasn't as lengthy as Evans but was equally as challenging and required him to wrestle and execute a very smart game plan. Leciejewski opened his tournament with second period pin over Mark Kukulka of Temple. Leciejewski kept the momentum moving forward and defeated Matthew Dulin of Florida Gulf Coast 7-2 to move on to the quarter finals and finish the first day 2-0.
On the second day Leciejewski opened with 5-2 decision over Roberto Coronel of Central Washington to move on to the National Semi-Finals and guaranteed himself a top 6 finish. In the evening session, Leciejewski battled the #2 seeded wrestler, Mo Fifita of Air Force Prep, but dropped the hard fought bout 3-1 and continued his tournament in the consolation semi-finals.
On the third and final day, Leciejewski had just two matches, and the first one was against the number one seeded Austin Wells from Middle Tennessee. Leciejewski attacked for most of the first period but Wells was a well-rounded opponent and eventually caught Leciejewski on his back to win by fall. Leciejewski went on to win the fifth place bout over John Puleo of UCF. Aaron went 4-2 for the weekend and ended the year with a record of 12-6.
Coach Eric Bergeron had nothing but praises for these two freshmen wrestlers. ‘I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication both Aaron and De’Ante put in this entire year,” he said. “To be able to go out and wrestle the way they did at a national tournament and it being their first year of college wrestling is very impressive. I couldn't ask for two better guys to have on my team.”
The National Collegiate Wrestling Association is a post-secondary athletic association for non-NCAA collegiate wrestling teams.
Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.
