By Spencer Jacobson, Staff Writer
The wrestling team competed at the Midwest Super Regional on Saturday and two Jets will be sent to compete at the NCAA Division II championships in just over a week.
Senior Tyler Mies, a returning all American, won the Super Regional title in his weight class and freshman Kameron Frame finished runner-up in his weight class.
The Jets finished the tournament in fifth place as a team with seven athletes placing individually, including Mies and Frame.
Tyler Lawley, Noah Perkins, and Nate Panagakis all earned fifth place finishes.
Kevin Kissane and Thor Balavage both earned sixth place.
Head coach Ryan Smith said the Jets’ performance at the regional tournament was a great showing for all of the athletes.
Smith said their regional was challenging, but he and the team are still pleased with their finish.
“We thought we would be in that 4-6 spot and we ended up in fifth. We would have liked to crack that 4 spot but we had one of the toughest regions out of the 6. So to come out of that region in the fifth spot, we are pretty proud of that,” he said.
With Mies and Frame continuing on to the championships, Smith said the rest of the team is concentrated on being there to assist and support their teammates as they prepare these next couple of weeks.
“Now we have just one thing to focus on, to make sure those two guys get the job done in a couple weeks,” he said.
Smith said that both Mies and Frame have seen a great deal of success this season and he expects that success to continue into the final matches of the season.
“We are going to go in there and wrestle one match at a time and hopefully when the dust settles, we are on top.”
Smith said that he and the team are confident heading into the championships, but do not want to get too far ahead of themselves.
“We don’t want to expect more than what’s achievable but at the same time we are going to go in there and hopefully, we are battling for a championship on Saturday night.”
Mies and Frame will compete at the NCAA Division II Championships beginning Friday, March 8, and finishing up Saturday, March 9, in Cleveland.
