Lycoming News

Penn College is set to compete in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships with four wrestlers ranked among the top eight in their weight classes. The event, hosted by RIT in Rochester, New York, begins Friday at 11 a.m. and concludes on Saturday.

Junior Noah Hunt ranks third at 141 pounds according to the Feb. 26 final regular-season regional ranking of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Freshmen Travis Green, Kaden Ware, and TJ Martin are ranked fifth at 165 pounds, sixth at 133 pounds, and seventh at 149 pounds respectively.

Coach Pankil Chander expressed satisfaction with the team's performance this season: "We had a great regular season with a young squad that consisted of more than half of our starting 10 being freshmen." He noted that this marks the first time in program history that Penn College has achieved two consecutive seasons with nine or more dual wins.

Chander acknowledged that while there were higher aspirations for the team, he finds encouragement in their progress: "Though we wanted more, it's encouraging to know that our program is making consistent jumps and trending in the right direction."

The team saw several milestones this season including winning their first tournament team championship at the 2023 RIT Invitational and earning their first team-national ranking. Martin, Green, and Ware each have over 30 wins this season while Hunt and freshman Nicholai Brotzman have secured 28 wins each.

Other Penn College representatives include freshman Luke Heimbach (125), sophomore Liam Goodrich (157), freshman Cavin Napoletano (174), senior Andy Muzika (184), and senior Gabriel Kennedy-Citeroni (197).

The Mideast Region features teams such as The College of New Jersey with nine ranked wrestlers leading the field. Ithaca College and Ursinus follow closely behind with seven ranked wrestlers each. Defending region champion TCNJ is ranked No.17 nationally along with Centenary at No.19.

"There are over 15 national top-15 wrestlers and several top-15 teams in the field," Chander said about the competition level.

In previous NCAA regionals, Penn College's best finish was twice placing eleventh—last year and in 2019. Top three finishers will advance to nationals on March 15-16; Isaac Cory was last year's sole qualifier from Penn College but his current season ended early due to injury.

Reflecting on postseason strategies Chander advised: "It is postseason... just wrestling... The biggest key to success is to have fun... not make the moment bigger than any other event."