TIFFIN, Ohio – The West Liberty University wrestling team overcame a deep and talented field here Saturday night to deliver an historic win in the NCAA Division II Super Region 3 Championships at Heminger Fieldhouse on the campus of Tiffin University.
    Head coach Danny Irwin was voted Super Region 3 Coach of the Year and the Hilltoppers claimed three individual championships while qualifying at least five wrestlers for next month's Nationals as they brought the first Super Regional title of the NCAA Division II era home for their tradition-laden program.
    It was a true team victory for Coach Irwin's Hilltoppers as all 10 wrestlers won at least one match, eight of them placed in the top four and at least half of them earned the right to extend their season two weeks from now at the NCAA Nationals.
    "I'm so proud of my guys," Irwin said. "Going all the way back to when I was wrestling, I have never had 10 guys wrestle as consistently well as our guys did today from start to finish. It was an amazing, amazing effort. We felt coming into the tournament that, with all the team toughness we've been developing throughout the year, the deeper the tournament went today, the better off we'd be and that's exactly how it panned out. When things got tough, we got tougher."
    Ashland was West Liberty's closest pursuer in the team standings as the two Top 10 powers separated themselves from the pack during the final few matches. Lake Erie (Ohio), Indianapolis and defending regional champion Notre Dame (Ohio) rounded out the top five.
    Tournament officials did not select a Most Outstanding Wrestler and Irwin was quick to share credit for his regional Coach of the Year Award.
    "Whenever I receive these awards, I immediately think of all the people behind it," he said. "I see as a tribute to the 10 guys who laid it all out on the mat, our head trainer Jerry Duncan, our coaching staff, our alumni, our donors and especially our administration. The support our program receives from all those sources is absolutely relentless. There are a lot of people who helped get this program to this point. I'm just the guy lucky enough to lead it."
    Leading Irwin's talented WLU contingent to St. Louis are his three regional champions - Cole Laya (125), Tyler Warner (133) and Connor Craig (184) - along with two regional runners-up who won True Second Place Matches in Logan Kemp (197) and Francesco Borsellino (285).
    Since the NCAA reduced all championship fields by 25 percent due to the pandemic, only the top two finishers in each weight class had guaranteed spots reserved at Nationals. The remainder of the championship field in St. Louis will be filled by selected Third Place finishers - designated as Wild Cards - from each of the six Super Regions.
    As a result, the Hilltoppers' two Third Place finishers - Chase Morgan (165) and Ty McGeary (174) - could also wind up in St. Louis as Wild Card entries. Those Wild Card slots will be voted on Sunday night after the completion of Sunday's Super Regionals and will be announced on Monday.
    "Trophies are great," Irwin said, "but ultimately it comes down to this group totally buying into our climb the hill mentality and believing there's nothing we can't do as long as we're not afraid to work for it. There's a great tradition here at West Liberty and we're looking forward to going to St. Louis in a couple of weeks and making a statement that, when you're talking wrestling, the hilltop is back!"
    Here's a quick look at how West Liberty's 10 regional wrestlers contributed to Saturday's regional title:                                         - Junior two-time All-American Cole Laya breezed to his second regional championship at 125 pounds, coasting through the quarters and semis with a fall and major decision before dominating Ashland's Christian Wellman in the regional final with a 6-0 win.
    "I thought today went exceptionally well, especially considering we brought home a team title," Laya said. "I'd say our overall performance was pretty good. I'm proud of this team and wouldn't have wanted to do it with any other group of guys."
    "Cole just keeps looking better and better every time out," Irwin added. "He's getting to his offense more and more and is extremely physical on top. He's a real sparkplug for us."
    - Senior Tyler Warner, a three-time All-American and former national champion, surrendered only one point all day in rolling to a regional title at 133 pounds. Warner blanked Lake Erie's Zane Johnson, 3-0, in the championship match.
    "What a great day to be a Hilltopper," Warner said. "We were the first team in the building this morning and the last to leave tonight - and when we left, we took the championship trophy with us. I was able to punch my fourth ticket to the NCAA Nationals and am just blessed to be part of this team with the greatest teammates and greatest coaches in the country."
    "Warner is just so stingy," Irwin said. "Guys can't score on him and he scores what he needs to win. Having him and Cole at the top of the lineup has been an awesome 1-2 punch for us all year."
    - Senior Connor Craig, also a former national champion and a two-time All-American, completely dominated former national champion and two-time All-American Aidan Pasiuk of Ashland in the finals, racking up an 8-1 decision with more than 3 minutes of riding time in his pocket at the horn.
    "Today was just another day of having fun and I thought as a team we wrestled extremely well," Craig said. "I personally got to see good competition today and am happy with the outcome. I'm looking forward to having some more fun and defending my title when we get to St. Louis in a couple of weeks."
    "Those are the kind of matches Connor lives for," Irwin said. "For him to go out and wrestle one of the best guys in the country like that just shows what could happen for him in two weeks."
    - Senior Logan Kemp, a two-time national qualifier, lost to No. 2-ranked Nick Mason of Tiffin in the 197-pound championship match but bounced back hard with a 33-second pin of Lake Erie's Chris Droege in the True Second Place match, clinching his third trip to the NCAA Nationals.
    "Logan keeps getting better," Irwin said. "He was looking really good today against a defending national champion and just happened to get caught but he came back with a big win when he needed it. If he wrestles like that in a couple of weeks, he's going to be up pretty high on that podium in St. Louis."
    - Sophomore Francesco Borsellino suffered his first loss of the season against nationally-ranked Tristen Weirich of Ashland in the 285-pound final but closed out the regional in impressive fashion with a fall against Notre Dame's Mike Viramontes in the True Second Place match to earn his first trip to Nationals.
    "Borso has worked really hard with (assistant) Coach Mike Carpenter challenging him in positions and helping him learn which positions to get to. He's really embraced the preparation and will be a force to be reckoned with in a couple of weeks."
    - Junior Chase Morgan knocked off top-seeded Jack Eiteljorge of Indianapolis in the semifinals and carried Lake Erie's James Penfold to overtime in the 165-pound championship match before dropping a 9-7 decision in the sudden-victory period. He then took a hard-luck loss to Tiffin's Bryan Lavearn in the True Second Place match to finish third but is hoping for a Wild Card bid to St. Louis on Monday.
    - Redshirt freshman Ty McGeary finds himself in the same boat as a Third Place finisher hoping for a Wild Card. McGeary dropped a tough 5-3 decision to eventual runner-up Andrew Sams of Indianapolis in the semis but fought his way back to a Third Place match against Findlay's Mark Trifelos where he pulled out a 3-2 decision to keep his hopes alive.
    - Junior Marcus Jean-Baptiste settled for a fourth place finish at 141 but certainly made his presence felt in a deep and talented division. A tough draw found Jean-Baptiste matched up against eventual champion Branson Proudlock of Findlay in the quarterfinals, dropping a hard-fought 6-2 decision. The WLU junior stayed alive with a major decision and a conventional decision in the wrestle backs to earn a Third Place match against Ashland's Luke Wymer. Wymer pulled out a late 6-3 decision but Irwin liked what he saw from his wrestler.
    "I thought 141 was the toughest bracket in the tournament today and Marcus wrestled lights out from start to finish," Irwin said. "He might have come up a little bit short at the end but he showed tremendous growth in an amazing afternoon against some of the best wrestlers in the country."
    - Redshirt freshman Alec Cook got off to a good start at 149 with a 9-1 major decision against Wheeling's Kale'anahe Slaughter but dropped a 6-0 decision to eventual regional champion Carson Speelman in the semifinals and came out on the short end of a 12-8 shootout to eventual third place finisher Logan Bailey of Indianapolis in the Consolation Semis.
    - Senior Christian Rivera also had a hard-luck afternoon thanks to a rough draw. It got off to a good start when he edged Davenport's Quintin Lopez in a 157-pound quarterfinal but a tough overtime loss to eventual 157-pound runner-up Dawson Combest of Indianapolis in the semis dropped him into the wrestlebacks. Lake Erie's Brandon Tenney, the eventual third place finisher, pulled out a 5-3 decision against Rivera in the Consolation Semis.
    The 2021 NCAA Division II Nationals will be held March 12-13 at the American Center Convention Complex in St. Louis.