 All-American Chris Healy ’05 (right) |
Healy finished the two-day tournament with a record of 3-3. He opened the tournament on Friday with a convincing 13-6 win over C.J. McNaught to advance in the bracket. The draw put the Wabash sophomore up against the number one seed, Eduard Aliakseyenka. Aliakseyenka came away with a 13-8 victory to send Healy to the consolation round.
Healy got an opportunity to exact from revenge in his first consolation match. He entered the Championships as a wild card wrestler after losing in the finals of the Midwest Regional last weekend to Manchester's J.J. Davis. Healy and Davis then met in the opening match of the consolation bracket. But it was Healy who earned the victory this time, taking a technical fall at the 6:29-mark of the match. Healy then pinned the sixth-seeded wrestler in the bracket, Rex Harris, in 6:34 to move on to the consolation quarterfinals.
Healy met Wartburg's Matt Sturm in the consolation semis, but lost 6-5. Healy met the College of New Jersey's Paul Vaccaro in the final match on Saturday, losing 10-3.
Healy became the fifth Wabash wrestler to earn All-American honors at the NCAA Championships. He joined former Little Giant grapplers Steve Wagner ’75, John Rust ’82, Tim Servies ’88, Dan Emerson ’98, and Ryan Mills ’00 with his top-eight finish at the nationals.
Healy already set the Wabash single-season record for wins earlier this season. He finished the season with an overall record of 48-10.
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