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    Lefever Named D3wrestle.com Freshman of the Year

    Brent Harris

     

    Riley Lefever continues to add accolades to his resume, earning Freshman of the Year honors for 2014 from d3wrestle.com.

     

    Lefever was named to the website's All-Freshman team at 184 pounds. He was the only first year to win a national title — the first national champion in the history of the Wabash wrestling program. He scored a takedown in the closing seconds of overtime to defeat 2013 national runner-up Brian Broderick from The College of New Jersey in the championship round to earn the title. In addition, Lefever finished the season with a spotless 41-0 record.

     

    Lefever also finished tied for eighth in the InterMat Freshman of the Year voting. The award is presented to the best college freshman among NCAA Divisions I, II, and III based upon balloting by ten writers and executives of InterMatWrestle.com. Lefever joined ten other rookie wrestlers who received at least one vote on the ballot.

     

    Jason Tsirtsis, a Crown Point, Indiana native and 149-pounder for Northwestern University, was named the website's top overall freshman. Tsirtsis finished the year with an overall record of 32-3 while capturing NCAA Division I and Big Ten championship titles in his first season. He received five of the ten available first-place votes.

     

    Lefever was the only Division III freshman to receive votes in InterMatWrestle.com balloting.

     

    "It's an awesome honor to get recognized by d3wrestle.com and InterMatWrestle.com," Lefever said. "Being recognized with fellow Indiana native and NCAA Division I national champion Jason Tsirtsis is a tremendous accomplishment. He was one of the wrestlers I looked up to while I was competing in high school. To be on the same list makes me feel like I'm heading in the right direction as a student-athlete."

     

    "This is icing on the cake for Riley to not only be named the Division III Freshman of the Year, but to be recognized as one of the best freshmen wrestlers across all divisions," Wabash head coach Brian Anderson said. "The way in which Riley approached all phases of his life the entire year definitely enabled him to enjoy the success he did and achieve such high accolades."

     

    Lefever was part of a school-record six national qualifiers at the DIII Wrestling Championships for Wabash. The Little Giant team earned a ninth-place finish for its best effort in 19 trips to nationals. Reece Lefever, Riley's older brother, added his second All-America award in as many years with a fourth-place finish at 157 pounds. Reece finished seventh as a sophomore in 2013.

     

    2014 d3wrestle.com Freshman of the Year/All-Freshmen Team

     

    InterMatWrestle.com Freshman of the Year

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