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Wabash's Darden Schurg pulled a rabbit out of a hat and won himself a National Championship tonight in Roanoake VA. A two-time Indiana HS State Runnerup at Crown Point, Schurg was down 3-1 in the final period and tied the match via a stalling penalty point and an illegal move/hold penalty point (think it was grabbing the headgear). Jairod James from Mt. Union got in deep on a double leg shot in sudden victory, but Sshurg rolled him through, elevator style, and came out on top for the winning takedown. 174 lb. Final Score: Darden Schurg 5 Jairod James 3 SV1 Congratulations Darden!

One thing that has always struck me as counter-productive is bracketed tournaments at the youth and middle school levels. The best wrestlers get to wrestle the most matches, and the kids who are still learning/struggling get a couple and are done. Wouldn't it be better for the health of the sport to run all of these youth and middle school tournaments round-robin style? That way everyone gets a good amount of mat time, and the kids who are (currently) the weakest get a chance at a competitive match against each other. I suppose wrestling 8-man brackets to 8 places could accomplish the same thing. Nothing feeds the fire quite like some success and feeling good about at least one match you've wrestled during the day - even if it's one you don't actually win.

SoCon Results 141 - Nathan Boston defeated Blake Mulkey 3-2 for 3rd Place. The SoCon has only 1 allocation at 141, so either will have to get an at large bid to make it to the NCAA Championships. Boston has a shot, Mulkey's season should be finished. 285 - Connor Tolley lost in the semifinal and followed that up with a win in the consolation semifinal. Connor finished in 4th Place losing by fall. He'll need some luck and an at large to qualify for the NCAA Championships. EIWA Results 165 - Cael McCormick (Army/Yorktown) finished in 2nd Place and qualifies for the NCAA Championships. 174 - Brian Harvey (Army/Cathedral) finished in 5th Place and qualifies for the NCAA Championships MAC Results 125 - Drew Hildebrandt lost the title match 5-2 to Michael McGee of Old Dominion. With his 2nd Place finish, he qualifies for the NCAA Championships

I'll add that while Kyle Hatch didn't finish quite as strong as he would have liked, he did give National Champion Lucas Jeske his toughest match, losing 9-7 SV1. I was also impressed with Owen Doster at 133. He didn't place but was impressive in a couple of wins and his losses were by 1 point to the 4 seed (who finished 3rd) and 2 points to the 8 seed (who finished 5th). Those two stood out to me in addition to Schurg.

Updated below with conference tournament results, bids earned, and at-large bid possibilities. RPI/Coaches' Panel rankings included 125 Drew Hildebrandt, CMU 7/19 (finished 2nd in MAC for auto bid) Devin Schroder, Purdue 19/18 (finished 8th at B10 for auto bid) Elijah Oliver, IU 23/28 (finished 4th at B10 for auto bid) Jose Diaz, Franklin & Marshall, was 0-2 at EIWA. 133 Stevan Micic, Michigan -/1 (FF to 6th at B10 for auto bid) Ben Thornton, Purdue 10/20 (finished 7th at B10 for auto bid) Paul Konrath, IU goes 1-3 at B10. 141 Nick Lee, Penn St. 6/2 (finished 3rd at B10 for auto bid) Chad Red, Nebraska 19/23 (finished 2nd at B10 for auto bid) Nate Limmex, Purdue 20/27; finished 10th at B10. Receives at-large bid. Nathan Boston, Campbell finished 3rd at SoCon. Blake Mulkey, Gardner-Webb, finished 4th at SoCon. Kyle Luigs, IU goes 2-3 at B10. 149 Parker Filius, Purdue, and Fernie Silva, IU, both go 0-2 at B10. 157 Griffin Parriott, Purdue 19/13 (finished 9th at B10 for auto bid) Jake Tucker, Michigan St. 28/-; FF out of all B10 matches. Jake Danishek, IU -/22; goes 1-3 at B10. 165 Bryce Martin, IU 26/21 (finished 7th at B10 for auto bid) Cael McCormick, Army 25/27 (finished 2nd at EIWA for auto bid) Cole Wysocki, Purdue, goes 2-3 at B10. 174 Dylan Lydy, Purdue 9/10 (finished 5th at B10 for auto bid) Ben Harvey, Army 18/18 (finished 5th at EIWA for auto bid) Jake Covaciu, IU 32/25; goes 2-3 at B10. Receives at-large bid. Drew Hughes, Michigan St. 33/28 (finishes 7th at B10 for auto bid) 184 Norman Conley, IU 31/-; goes 2-3 at B10. Max Lyon, Purdue 30/29 (finished 7th at B10 for auto bid) 197 Christian Brunner, Purdue 5/12 (finished 5th at B10 for auto bid) Jake Kleimola, IU, B10; finished 8th at B10. 285 Gable Steveson, Minnesota 2/1 (finished 2nd at B10 for auto bid) Mason Parris, Michigan 5/5 (finished 7th at B10 for auto bid) Jacob Aven, Purdue 26/- (finished 8th at B10, received last-minute alternate bid) Connor Tolley, UT-Chattanooga, finished 4th at SoCon. Fletcher Miller, IU, goes 0-2 at B10.

I want to give kudos to IU's Jake Kleimola (Merrillville). While he was a IN HS State Champion, wrestling at 197 in college hasn't been easy. 2017 - He redshirted his freshman year and went 3-4 with his only wins against wrestlers from Eastern Michigan (non-starter), DII Findlay and Muskegon Community College. 2018 - Things didn't get much better as he stepped into a starting role for IU, obviously before he was ready. Jake went 0-13 last year but only 4 of those lossed were major (or higher) decisions. There were several close matches, including seven by one or two. 2019 - Jake finished a respectable 13-18 on the season with an 8th Place finish at the Big Ten Tournament. That's a huge jump and one I thought should be recognized. He has two more seasons to go.

Session II Results Note: Green indicates still in the Championship bracket. Red = Eliminated. Black = Alive in Wrestlebacks 133 - Stevan Micic MFF'd to Luke Pletcher. He falls to the consolation semifinal vs. Ethan Lizak. Will he MFF again in the morning? 133 - Paul Konrath lost by TF to Ethan Lizak to be eliminated from the main bracket. He then lost 3-2 to Jevon Parrish of Nebraska in the 9th Place bracket. He had beaten Parrish earlier in the consis. He is now eliminated. 141 - Chad Red is in the Finals with a solid 4-1 win over Kanen Storr over Michigan. He'll face Joey McKenna Sunday night. 141 - Kyle Luigs dropped his blood round match to Tristan Moran 14-5. He won 9-5 over NW's Alex McKenna in the 9th Place bracket. He will face Nate Limmex of Purdue in that semifinal. 141 - Nick Lee fell to Joey McKenna of Ohio State 5-4 and drops to the consolation semifinal to face Wisconsin's Tristan Moran, who gave Nick his only other loss on the season. 174 - Drew Hughes won by TF 20-5 over Mitch Bowman of Iowa and then lost 7-0 to Mikey Labriola of Nebraska. He'll wrestle for 7th Place against Ryan Christensen of Wisconsin. 174 - Jake Covaciu lost 7-3 to OSU's Ethan Smith in the blood round. He fell to the 9th Place bracket and won his first match, 7-2 over Josh Ugalde of Maryland. He'll face Mitch Bowman of Iowa in that semifinal. 174 - Dylan Lydy fell in the Semifinal 6-5 to Myles Amine of Michigan. He will face Mikey Labriola in the consolation semifinal. 197 - Jake Kleimola won his blood round match 13-4 over Dylan Anderson of Minnesota, avenging an earlier season loss. Jake then lost by fall to Beau Breske of Wisconsin. He'll face MSU's Brad Wilton for 7th Place. This is a rematch from the opening round. Wilton won by fall (leading 7-1) and won earlier in the year against Kleimola. 285 - Mason Parris beat Fletcher Miller 6-2 and advanced to face David Jensen of Nebraska. Jensen won by fall pushing Mason to the 7th Place match to face Jacob Aven. 285 - Jacob Aven won a 5-2 decision over Iowa's Sam Stoll and then dropped a 4-3 decision to MD's Youssif Hemida. He faces Mason Parris for 7th Place. 285 - Fletcher Miller lost 6-2 to Mason Parris and was eliminated.

Kleimola looked wonderful against the #7 seed. 13-4 major, committed to his shots and rode well. In my personal opinion, Luigs was very competitive even in a major decision loss. He scrambles like crazy.

At the DII Championship  149 - Isaiah Kemper (McKendree/Evansville Central) won by injury default over #6 ranked Kameron Frame of Newman and takes 5th Place at DII Nationals. Congrats to Isaiah on the All-American finish! At the DIII Championship 165 - Kyle Hatch (Wabash/Warsaw) lost 9-4 to unranked Nicholas Bonomo of Wisconsin-Whitewater for 6th Place at DIII Nationals. Congrats to Kyle on the All-American finish! Tonight, Darden Schurg (Wabash/Crown Point) goes for a DIII National Title. Schurg finished 4th last year and his only loss on the year is a MFF to his opponent tonight Jairod James. It's #1 vs. #2 for all the marbles. Watch Stream Here

At the DII Championship  149 - Isaiah Kemper lost in sudden victory 3-1 to #2 ranked James Pleski of St. Cloud St. He'll face #6 ranked Kameron Frame of Newman in the 5th/6th Place match. At the DIII Championship 165 - Kyle Hatch lost 10-6 to #9 ranked Mark Choinsk of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He fell behind 7-0 in the first and didn't quite have enough to come all the way back. He'll face unranked Nicholas Bonomo of Wisconsin-Whitewater for 5th/6th Place.

At the DII Championship 149 - Isaiah Kemper loses 7-4 to #1 ranked and undefeated Chris Eddins Jr. He will face #2 ranked James Pleski who got upset in the quarterfinal next. He is guaranteed no worse than 6th Place. At the DIII Championship 165 - Kyle Hatch lost a tough one to #1 ranked and undefeated Lucas Jeske. Kyle jumped out to a 6-0 lead but couldn't hold off and a riding time point tied it up at 7 and took it to SV where he lost 9-7. He'll face #9 ranked Mark Choinski next and can finish no worse than 6th. 174 Darden Schurg - Won his semifinal 11-6 and will face #2 ranked and 2 seed Jairod James of Mount Union in tonight's final for the Championship.

Knights Wrestling For the first time in program history, the Marian wrestling team has been crowned conference champions as the Knights won the American Midwest Conference Tournament Saturday in Batesville, Arkansas. Head coach Steven Bradley and the Knights accomplished the feat in just the program's third season. Coach Bradley was also named coach of the year. Marian will send nine wrestlers to the NAIA Championships and earned four individual AMC titles. Marian's 175.5 points bested Williams Baptist's 163.5 for the team title. The Knights are off for the rest of the month until the NAIA Championships March 1-2 in Des Moines, Iowa. AMC Conference Champs: 125 Class: Chris Sharp 133 Class: Brandon James (AMC Newcomer of the Year) 141 Class: Mason Miranda 149 Class: Bailey Moore NAIA Championship Qualifiers: 125 Class: Chris Sharp 133 Class: Brandon James 141 Class: Mason Miranda 149 Class: Bailey Moore, Logan Hurley 157 Class: Brett Johnson 174 Class: Jack Servies 184 Class: Sam Osho 285 Class: Ethan Bunce