ST. LOUIS – Cole Laya won his second straight 125-pound national championship and the West Liberty University wrestling team brought home a third-place trophy Saturday night as the NCAA Division II Nationals concluded its two-day run at Chaifetz Arena.
While Nebraska-Kearney rolled up 127 team points to run away with the team title, Coach Danny Irwin‘s Hilltoppers came on strong Saturday and stayed in the fight for runner-up honors until the last few matches of the tournament.
Central Oklahoma won two of the last three individual titles to hold off West Liberty’s run at second place with 86 points. The Black and Gold finished a solid third at 75.5, followed by defending national champion St. Cloud State (67) and Adams State, Colo. (65).
Not only is it the highest finish of West Liberty’s NCAA Division II era, it’s the highest national finish for a Hilltopper wrestling squad in nearly three decades, dating back to the Black and Gold’s 1995 NAIA runner-up finish in Jamestown, N.D.
“If a couple things break the other way tonight, we’re even higher on that leaderboard,” Irwin said. “Even so, that third-place finish is a testament to the heart and grit of our guys. They wanted to squeeze as much juice out of today as possible and they did just that.”
Five West Liberty wrestlers placed in the top eight of their respective weight classes to earn NCAA Division II All-America recognition.
In addition to Laya’s 125-pound national championship, Connor Craig placed second at 184 for the second straight year with Ty McGeary taking third at 174, Ty Warner fourth at 141 and Logan Kemp eighth at 197.
Laya (25-4) completely dominated the 125-pound field in rolling to his second straight national championship. The Hilltopper veteran got his Saturday off to a flying start with a first-period fall against UNC Pembroke’s Nick Daggett in the Championship Semifinals.
He followed that up on Saturday night with a 9-0 major decision in his national title match against Nebraska-Kearney’s Josh Portillo, an NCAA Division I transfer who was never able to get to his offense against the WLU whirlwind.
“Cole Laya is amazing,” Irwin said. “That was one of the most incredible wrestling matches I’ve ever seen. Now he’s a four-time All-American with back-to-back national champions. We’ve already witnessed an amazing career and we get to see him for one more year.”
Laya said he was actually more nervous about his semifinal match than the championship.
“Daggett and I have wrestled each other a lot, maybe eight times over the last few years and it’s always a tough match,” Laya said. “When I was able to stick (pin) him this morning, it just told me I was on top of my game today. After that, I said there’s no one in this arena who can beat me tonight except myself and I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
Craig’s 184-pound final against Central Oklahoma’s Heath Gray was a rematch of last year’s 184-pound championship bout which saw Gray hang on for a 3-2 win.
Gray, who has lost only one match to an NCAA Division II wrestler in the last three seasons, grabbed an early lead on Saturday with a first-period takedown and added another one late in the match for a 4-3 win.
“Connor executed the game plan from start to finish,” Irwin said. “Last year’s match was pretty dull but tonight was more of a wrestling match. If one takedown goes the other way, we’re having a different conversation but what an incredible career. A four-time All-American, a three-time national finalist. The 2019 national champion. Connor’s a guy who’s helped push our program to the top in so many areas. Incredible wrestler but also a remarkable person.”
West Liberty’s success in the consolations and place matches was the key to their surge up the leaderboard as they not only added advancement points to the team total, they tacked on several key bonus points.
Warner (12-4) picked up a major decision and a fall in the consolation rounds before settling for a fourth place finish with a tough 6-5 loss to once-beaten Joey Bianchini of St. Cloud State, who came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
“Ty Warner ends his career as only the second 5-time All-American and 2-time national champion in NCAA D2 history, joining (165-pound national champion) Matt Malcom of Nebraska-Kearney). I fully expect that when he becomes eligible, you’ll see Ty in the Division II Hall of Fame.
“Every single match he wrestled this weekend was against an All-American and the points he scored in getting fourth today were a big factor in us getting that third place trophy.
McGeary (25-2) had a major decision and a decision on Saturday before posting an impressive 6-4 win against Nebraska-Kearney’s Austin Eldredge in their third place match.
Kemp (18-7) took a couple of hard-luck losses on Saturday but only after clinching his first NCAA All-America honor in four tries with a clutch fall in his Second Round Consolation bout on Friday night.
Irwin closed by expressing his appreciation for the large number of West Liberty wrestling fans, family and former wrestlers who made the trip to St. Louis to cheer for the Black and Gold.
“We’ve made some huge strides in our program across the board,” Irwin said. “Having our team, our family, our alumni all out here to share in this moment is something I know I’ll look back on for many, many years with a smile on my face.”
