Junior Garrett Pino will represent Wabash College at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships after going 3-0 at 141 pounds to win the title at Saturday's Midwest Regional at Case Western Reserve University.
Pino, who wrestled at 133 pounds throughout the season and missed last weekend's competition due to an illness, returned to the lineup for the Little Giants and wrestled up a weight class. He earned the second seed with a 22-8 record coming into Saturday's competition, giving him a first round bye. He defeated Manchester's Joe Lamplot in his first match of the tournament, winning by technical fall 20-5 seven minutes into the match.
Pino faced sixth-seeded Brad Greenman from Case Western in the semifinals, winning his closest match of the tournament with an 8-2 decision. The Little Giant junior advanced to the finals to battle Chris Kelly from MacMurray, the top-seeded wrestler in the weight class. Pino made short work of Kelly, winning a major decision with a 9-1 victory.
While Pino was the only champion for the Little Giants, two other wrestlers nearly claimed regional crowns.
Will Clarke won his first two bouts to move to the championship match of the 184-pound weight class. After claiming a 10-0 shutout win against Chad Craft in the opener, Clarke took an 8-1 win in the semifinals versus second-seeded Trevor Brown to set up the finals battler with top-seed Ryan Newberry from Olivet. Newberry would hold on for a one-point, 3-2 victory to claim the title and the spot at the Nationals.
Keith Garrard was second at 197 pounds. He picked up pins in his first two wins, then followed with an 8-0 victory to advance to the finals as the number three seed. Garrard was tied with number one seed Jeff Wright from Olivet through three periods of action, forcing a sudden victory overtime. It was Wright scoring the first point to take a 6-4 win to earn the trip to the Nationals.
Joe Seger was third at 174 pounds. He won his opening match 9-4 over Jon Howard before falling to the consolation bracket with a 6-4 loss to third-seeded Brandon Council. A 5-1 win in the semifinals set up another 5-1 victory in the final bout of the weight class.
Steve Kasten went 3-2 for the day, finishing fifth at 285 pounds with a 4-2 win in the finals over Mitch Tenney from Washington and Jefferson. Eric Slabaugh was 2-2 at 125 pounds for a fifth place finish, as well.
Wabash finished tied for fourth place with Manchester in the final team standings. The Little Giants picked up 79 points. Olivet won the team title with 128 points, followed by Mount St. Joseph (99.5), and Thiel (99.5).