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NJCAA National Championships Overview

February 18, 2010

The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is taking the national wrestling tournament to a new venue this year, moving the annual event to Des Moines, Iowa. Action begins next weekend, Friday, Feb. 26 and Saturday, Feb. 27, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The national tournament is hosted by all of the Iowa wrestling schools including Ellsworth Community College, Iowa Central, North Iowa Area Community College and Iowa Lakes Community College. Wrestling starts at 9:30 a.m. on Friday with two sessions as the top eight wrestlers at each weight will advance to Saturday. Finals begin at 7pm Saturday night. The event has been held in Rochester, MN, for the last 12 years.

This year promises to bring a lot of action to the state with its own Iowa Central Community College vying for their 5th consecutive team championship, coming off a big win as the west central district team champs earlier this month. Last year all the Iowa teams placed in the top ten. With a wealth of talent and numerous ranked wrestlers, this year’s national tournament should give every team a shot at the stand. Other district champions include #3 Ranked Labette College who won the west central district, # 6 North Idaho who won the western district along with Harper College who won the central district; Nassau won in the eastern district and Niagara won eastern District II. Top challenging teams also include Meramec College ranked #2; Northwest Wyoming #4 and Clackamas at #5. Wrestlers will be competing in the tournament, representing over 40 junior colleges from across the country.

On Friday, session one begins at 9:30 a.m. with continuous wrestling throughout the day. The evening session begins at 6:30 p.m. wrestling starts on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with awards/finals will start at 6:30 p.m. Package weekend tickets are available for $35/adults and $25 for students and includes a program. Purchased individually, Friday’s tickets are $10/adults and $8 for students for the day and $12/adults and $8/students for Friday evening and Saturday’s first session. On Saturday evening, tickets are $15 for adults or $8 for students.

Weight by weight overview:

125
This weight class is packed with some very talented wrestlers but highlighted by returning National runner up Ricardo Gomez (20-8) from Nassau College along with returning All American Justin Purves from Highline. Joe Colon brings a 30-2 record and currently is ranked 1st from Iowa Central and just won the tough North Central District. Other wrestlers to watch are: Kyle McCrite from North Idaho who defeated Purves of Highline in the Western District finals; Meramec’s #4 Sharky Slyter with a 21-8 record and title from the Central District along with Ellsworth’s Robert Herrera (22-10) who is ranked 7th and finished second to Colon from Iowa Central in the district finals.

133
This class is loaded with six returning All Americans led by Tim Thurston (23-3) of Iowa Lakes who finished 2nd last year and is currently ranked 1st. Thurston won the North Central District title over Michael Garofalo of Iowa Central who is ranked 3rd. Other returning All-Americans include Rend Lake’s Eric Ellington who placed 3rd and won the Central District. Aaron Smith from Highline placed 4th last year, Omi Acosta from Waubonsee who placed 5th, Saul Gurrero from NW Wyoming who placed 7th and Labette’s Donnie Curtis who took 8th in 2009.

141
A big surprise comes in at 141 pounds with number one ranked wrestler, Kodie Silverstri from Nassau (28-7), was knocked off at the region tournament by unranked wrestler Ryan Kemmerer of Gloucester. # 12 Brock Coutu (18-4) from NIACC won the North Central District when he beat Vinny Pisani of Iowa Central who placed 5th at last year's national tournament. McCade Ford from NW Wyoming comes in as the only other All-American who took 8th place honors last year. Eric Shedden from Alfred State won the Eastern 2 District and brings in a 15-5 record while #2 ranked Anthony Weerheim from Clackamas won the Western District.

149
Top ranked and returning National Champion Ganbayar Sanjaa of Colby comes in as the guy to beat. Victor DeJesus (18-6) of Iowa Lakes put himself in good position to vie for the title when he won the tough North Central District. Other returning All-Americans include #6 Raufeon Stots of Labette who placed 4th last year and #7Shay Shive from Niagara who placed 5th. Shive won the Eastern District and owns a 42-13 record. Jason Gray from Highline who is currently ranked 2nd won the western district title.

157
Highline’s Marshall Giovannini, returning National runner-up from two years ago, was defeated at the district tournament by Terrence Williams of Clackamas. Williams is currently ranked 2nd in the nation. Ellsworth's Ruben Perez won the West Central District by impressive fashion. #6 Luke Roth from Harper comes in with a perfect 15-0 record and won the Central District. Lance Wade is also a contender from Nassau as he won the Eastern District. Other returning All-Americans include Rodney Dollar of Western Wyoming who placed 7th at 149 last season, Bryce Lumzy out of Lincoln College who placed 7th last year at 157 and Aaron Sandel from Stevens Tech who placed 8th in 2009.

165
This weight brings in two National runner-ups and a third place finisher from 2009. #1 Bekzod Abdurakhmonov from Colby Community College placed 2nd last year at 157, Iowa Central’s Bradley Banks (14-1) placed 2nd at 174 and moves down a weight class, while Harper’s #4 Mike Dace who is 17-3 and a returning all-American was 3rd two years ago. Anthony Slue who brings in a 19-7 record at Meramec defeated Dace in the district final. #5 Tony Mack from Mercyhurst brings in a 22-4 record and won the Eastern 2 District.

174
This is a wide open weight class that returns no All-Americans. Chad Wright from Labette comes in as the top ranked individual. #7 Kody Kersten (29-8) won the West Central district in impressive fashion with a 19-5 win in the finals. #8 Steve Vasquez from North Idaho won the Western District. #4 John Vogt from Meramec won the Central District and has compiled a 22-8 record while Jules Doliscar from Nassau owns a 25-12 record and won the Eastern District. Tony Lisek out of Jamestown College won the Eastern 2 District and has compiled a 19-7 record.

184
Returning national champion from two years ago, Deron Winn out of Meramec College returns to get another title and he will be challenged by two other returning All-Americans. #3 George Hargrove from Springfield Tech placed 2nd last year and #2 North Idaho’s Celic Bell who is up a weight placed 3rd at 174 pounds in 2009. Other top ranked individuals include 5th ranked Nick Pica (18-2) from Iowa Central who dominated the North Central District and Brandon Jackson from Clackamas who is currently ranked 4th. . Derek Thompson from Labette placed 3rd at last year's National Tournament but was defeated by Ralph Major from Pratt in the region finals.

197
This weight returns four All Americans and a national champion. Devin Clark of Rochester Community College won the title at 184 last season but was defeated by Joshua Marsh (23-6) from NIACC in the regional semi finals by a score of 7-5. Marsh who placed 5th at HWT last season, went on to win the North Central District title as he defeated Carl Foreside of Iowa Central who was ranked 2nd by a score of 7-3. Other All-Americans who return are Kamron Jackson from North Idaho who placed 3rd at 184 and is coming off a region title win from the Western District and Caleb Kociemba from Clackamas who placed 5th at last year's national tournament. Mike Kukowski also brings in an impressive 14-2 record as he won the Central District title.

285
This weight returns two National runner ups with NW Wyoming’s Landon Harris who placed 2nd last year at Hwt and Parker Brand from Rochester who is up a weight, placing 2nd at 197 in 2009. Brand was defeated in the regional final by Zach Rosol from NIACC (20-6) by a score of 5-0. #4 Robert McCovey who won the tough West District owns a win over Harris this season. Be sure to look for #2 Corey Anderson out of Lincoln College who won the West Central District and brings in a 33-6 record to this weight class.