The Pennsylvania College of Technology wrestling team is preparing for the NCAA Division III Region 2 Championship at Lycoming College this weekend. The matches are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
“I am pleased with how our regular season went. We battled some injury and sickness, as does any other team, but have come through on the other side and are set for a great run at regionals,” said Dalton Rohrbaugh, the first-year coach.
Rohrbaugh highlighted the team’s success in winning their first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference title, noting that eight out of ten champions were from Penn College. The Wildcats ended their dual match season with a 4-0 record in the AMCC and a 7-2 overall record.
The Wildcats’ regional lineup includes several notable wrestlers: freshman Justin Adams at 125 pounds, sophomore Kaden Ware at 133 pounds, senior Noah Hunt at 141 pounds, sophomore TJ Martin at 149 pounds, freshman Gavin Gomes at 157 pounds, freshman Carter Davis at 165 pounds, freshman Cole Shupp at 174 pounds, junior Isaac Cory at 184 pounds, sophomore Nick Woodruff at 197 pounds, and sophomore Nicholai Brotzman at heavyweight.
In regional rankings by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, Cory ranks third; Hunt fourth; Davis and Brotzman fifth; Ware and Woodruff sixth.
Rohrbaugh attributes the team’s success to “continuously doing the right things on and off the mat. Doing the little things right at practice and making sure the things outside the room, such as our diet, sleep, etc., are taken care of. We have put in the work all year and are peaking at the right time.”
Over recent years, Penn College wrestlers have performed well in regionals. Last year saw Ware finish sixth in his weight class while Hunt placed eighth along with Travis Green. Two years ago Cory finished second advancing to nationals while Hunt was sixth.
The Mideast Region is one of seven regions in Division III including nineteen teams. Last year Penn College finished sixteenth out of twenty-one teams after finishing eleventh in twenty-three before tying seventeenth two years ago.
