By:Patrick Hall Tuesday, 27 February, 2007

Pratt Wrestling traveled up to Rochester, Minnesota to compete in the NJCAA Wrestling Championships last weekend, coming away with a tenth place finish and two All-Americans. Top performers for the Beavers were Colby Crawford taking 4th place at 141 and Jason Nichols taking 5th place at 157.

Crawford won his first two matches of the tournament before dropping his quarter final match 8-6 to Ricky Valadez of Yakima Valley. Colby went down 4-0 in the first period to Valadez on a big move. Crawford then spent the rest of the match trying to play catch up. After the loss Colby went on a tear winning his next 3 matches by scores of 6-5, 10-9, and 11-4, putting him in for 3rd and 4th against Valadez. Colby dropped the match to Valadez 10-8 in overtime.

"Both matches between Crawford and Valadez were exciting to watch, said Head Coach Chas Thompson. "We just came out on the wrong end."

Nichols also won his first two matches. In the semi-finals Jason lost to the eventual champion, Nate Carr Jr. of Iowa Central 7-6.

"I feel we could have won this match, but the referee awarded a stalling point to Carr in the closing seconds of the second period, said Thompson. "Carr chose to wrestle on his feet in the 3rd but Nichols was unable to score the takedown for the win. It was a tough loss to take."

Nichols dropped his next match to #1 ranked Dallas Hessletine of Harper CC 9-8. Nichols led the whole match until the third period. The loss knocked Jason down to 5th and 6th. Jason made easy work of his opponent pinning him in 1:49 of the first period taking 5th place.

James Fox and Justin Naccarato also missed All American rounds by one match.

"I really think we could have done much better as a team," summarized Thompson. "I don't know if it was because it was our first National tournament or what. But we didn't wrestle to our potential. Don't get me wrong. We didn't wrestle terrible, but we didn't wrestle to our ability. It's a tough tournament. I just wish we could have wrestled to our potential. I feel bad for the guys, because I know they wanted to do well. One good thing is everyone came away with a win."

Five of Thompson's wrestlers with national experience will return next year. The only sophomore this year at Nationals was Colby Crawford.

"We handled ourselves extremely well for our first season and now I feel like we've established a solid foundation to build on for next year," said Thompson. "We'll use that foundation to train hard, and I feel confident will improve upon this year's Nationals showing. The community support in Pratt has been tremendous. We're looking forward to continuing to prove why we deserve that support."

James Fox 2-2 DNP
Lost to Mike Ryan of Harper 5-2
Def. Darin Green of Merrimac 5-2
Def. Devon Hennessey of Alfred 7-2
Lost by fall to Russell Weakley of Iowa Central 2:10

Colby Crawford 5-2 4th Place All American
Def. John Calderon of Pima 8-5
Pinned Bret Bunne of Rochester 4:58
Lost to Ricky Valadez of Yakima Valley 8-6
Def. Andre Harrison of Nassau 6-5
Def. Derek Bartlemay of Clackamas 10-9
Def. Clint Collins of Gloucester 11-4
Lost to Ricky Valadez of Yakima Valley 10-8

Rylan England 1-2 DNP
Def James Henderson of Mercyhurst 15-1
Lost to Justin Turek or Ridgewater 10-7
Lost to Jordan McCabe of Harper 5-2

Jason Nichols 3-2 5th place
Dec. Frank Meringolo of Nassau 4-2
Pinned Jeff Sellman of Rochester 2:13
Lost to Nater Carr Jr. of Iowa Central 7-6
Lost to Dallas Hesseltine of Harper 9-8
Pinned Clayton Cook of Western Wyoming 1:49

Justin Naccarato 1-2 DNP
Dec. Shaunden Crawford of Elsworth 7-2
Lost to Jeremiah Webb of Spartensburg 5-3
Lost by Fall to Dominic Willis of Harper 3:50

Carl Wilkinson 1-2 DNP
Lost to David Wyper of Muskegon 11-5
Def Mark Mitchell of Minnesota West 5-1
Pinned by John Bates Clackamas 3:44