Five Little Giant wrestlers and one hurdler made March 14 one of the most successful days in Wabash Athletics history.
Wrestlers Conner Lefever ’15, Reece Lefever ’15, Ethan Farmer ’16, and Riley Lefever ’17 earned the recognition as Conner and Riley earned national championships. The quartet helped guide Wabash wrestling to a third-place national finish.
Hurdler star Ronnie Posthauer ’15 finished the 60-meter hurdles in 7.96 seconds for a third-place finish. Track Coach Clyde Morgan knew Posthauer was ready to do something special. “I’ve seen him antsy before, but it was nervousness then," he said. "Now, he was just ready to go.”
Posthauer’s heat was one of the fastest in NCAA Division III history. Champion Luke Campbell, Salisbury College, won with a time of 7.93 seconds while silver medalist Bobby Cooks from Aurora clocked a 7.95. Posthauer’s 7.96 broke his own school record of 8.00 seconds and is the fifth fastest time in the event for Division III.
“In the past, I’ve put so much time towards the final race and have gotten to that point, but kind of broke down and had a bad race once there,” Posthauer said. “When I finally ran that time and reached all of my goals for indoor, I just felt relief. I was happy my last race indoor was one I wouldn’t look back on and regret.”
It was the first time Posthauer earned All-American recognition. He came close as a sophomore with a fifth-place finish.
One Little Giant getting use to podiums is Riley Lefever. The sophomore defended the national title he earned as a freshman “There were definitely different challenges when you’re the top dog and everybody is coming for you,” he said. “That took a toll on me mentally, but I was able to change up my mentality and it helped. Last year took more of physical toll on my body because I wasn’t used to the long season while this year posed more of an emotional challenge.”
Riley won the 183-pound title 5-3 over Wartsburg's Devin Peterson. In doing so, he became just the second Little Giant to earn multiple national titles in his athletic career (Track's 800-meter specialist Jake Waterman the other).
Riley’s older twin brothers Conner and Reece joined him in success. Conner garnered his first championship and All-American award defeating The College of New Jersey’s Zach Zotollo.
“I really wanted to win the national championship this year and every practice or drill I knew I had to push myself and it paid off,” Conner said. “I made a stupid mistake last year and I learned from it. I realized if I get in a bad situation, I just need to get out of it and wrestle back into the match. I was behind in two of my matches and came back to win them so I think that shows I’ve grown from last season.”
Reece capped his career with a second-place finish, becoming the first three-time All-American in Little Giant wrestling history. He earned a 3-2 sudden death victory in a semifinal match before falling to top-seeded Nick Carr of Washington and Jefferson in the 157-pound title round.
“I worked all season towards getting that national championship, but second place isn’t horrible,” Reece said. “I’m not happy with second place, but it’s a good achievement. I know if I didn’t win that semifinal match, I don’t think we would’ve finished in the top four to get that team trophy. I think getting that third-place team trophy is better than second place individually.”
Farmer battled injuries his first two seasons on the Wabash wrestling squad, but put together a strong 2014-2015 campaign. He finished on the podium with a seventh-place markFarmer added he is excited to start reaching his full potential.
“It feels good to finally accomplish what I feel like I have always had the potential to do,” he said. “In the past, injuries have kept me from reaching my potential. This year I was able to create the correct circumstance all year and it paid off.”