The Fort Hays State Tiger wrestlers sent six wrestlers to the NCAA Division II National Championships after finishing in the top four at the NCAA Division II Super Regional 4/RMAC Championships hosted by FHSU on Saturday and Sunday (Feb 25-26). Three Tigers finished second: Justin Glenn, Walker Clarke and C.J. Napier; Tanner Kriss placed third and Collin Hase finished fourth. Derek Koehn also moved on to the championships. The Tiger team placed fourth overall with 92.5 points. Nebraska-Kearney won the RMAC Championship, earning 115 points.
After advancing to the 285-pound championship bout, Justin Glenn dropped a tight overtime match to Paco Retana of Colorado Mesa. Glenn went 2-1 in the event. A native of Enid, Okla., Glenn won two decisions. In his first bout, Glenn won, 5-1, over RJ Boylan of CSC. To advance to the finals, Glenn defeated Taylor Stam of Adams State by a 6-3 score.
Walker Clarke dropped a close 4-3 decision to Nick Peterson in the 184-pound championship match. Peterson used a late takedown to down Clarke. Before his one loss, Clarke won two straight to advance to the finals. After an opening round bye, Clarke used a 5-3 decision to defeat Kyle Piatt of Western State. In his second match, Clarke won, 3-2, over Ross Brunkhardt of Nebraska-Kearney.
C.J. Napier moved all the way to the 141-pound finals, but dropped a 10-0 major decision to No. 1 Dalton Jensen of UNK. Napier won two-straight matches to make it to the championship bout. The sophomore from Columbus, Kan. won an 8-4 decision over CJ York of Western State and also defeated James Martinez of Colorado Mesa, 7-3.
Tanner Kriss placed third in the 197-pound class to advance to the National Championships. After falling in his first match in overtime on Saturday, 3-1, to Samuel Mangum of Western State College, Kriss won four straight matches to finish third. Kriss won his first two matches via pins over Justin Rockhill of New Mexico Highlands (0:59) and Cody Johnson of Colorado State-Pueblo (5:24). Kriss's next two wins came in decisions. He defeated Chris Leak of CSC, 9-2, and then won a 8-4 decision over Matt Lenagh of UNK in the third place bout.
In the 125-pound class, Collin Hase advanced to Nationals with a fourth place finish. Hase started the tournament with a 5-4 decision win over Dustin Stiegemeyer of Western State College then dropped a close 9-7 decision to eventual champion Gerald Huff of Adams State. The junior from Silver Lake, Kan. defeated Andrew Yu of San Francisco State via a pin at 1:43 to advance to the third place bout. In a rematch with Stiegemeyer, Hase lost this time, 5-4, as Stiegemeyer notched a takedown with one second left in the final period.
Although he finished in fifth place, Derek Koehn advanced to the NCAA National Championships based on his win over fourth-place finisher Daniel Kelly of Adams State. Koehn won a 6-4 overtime decision over Kelly in a second round bout. The sophomore from Pittsburg, Kan. went 3-2 at the event. In the opening round, Koehn won a close 1-0 decision over Travis Saxon of New Mexico Highlands then defeated Kelly of ASC. After falling to Jon Gappmaier of Colorado Mesa in a tech fall, Koehn dropped his second match, 10-0, to Teddy Bristol to move to the fifth-place match. The fifth-place match saw Koehn pin Steven Kelly of Colorado Mines at 2:58 to take fifth place.
Mitchell Means placed fifth at 149 pounds, and Sam Thoman finished sixth in the 165-pound class for the Tigers.
The NCAA Division II National Championships take place on March 9-10, hosted by Colorado State-Pueblo in Pueblo, Colo.
