Down to his very last chance, UW-Platteville senior Zach Chambers dug deep and earned his long-coveted all-America status.
Chambers beat Case Western's David Manoogian 13-9 in a back-and-forth elimination 141-pound match Friday night to clinch his first all-American honor at the NCAA Division III national championships, held at Dubuque's Five Flags Center.
One match later on the very same mat, sophomore Ryan Higgins earned similar honors, beating Elmhurst's Jeff Kastel 16-4 at 149 pounds.
"I'm finally an all-American," said Chambers, a three-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion and national qualifier. "It's one of the best feelings I've ever had."
Chambers went on to finish fourth nationally while Higgins was eighth to earn the all-American honors.
"It's real special," Higgins said. "I knew sometime in my career I'd be an all-American, but it's awesome to get it now. Now I have two more years to get better. It just feels great."
Freshman Jesse Milks just missed all-America honors by one bout, but had a highlight earlier in the afternoon when he upset fifth-seeded Elliott Spence of Mount St. Joseph with a pin in 5:46 at 157.
Chambers and the Higgins became the first Pioneer all-Americans since Brian Olson and the first UWP pair to earn honors in the same meet since Matt Olson and Wes Folk in 1998.
"It's great, especially since we have one returning next year and also Jesse who gained a lot of experience," Pioneer Coach Chris Walter said, "but I'm really happy for Zach. He's has fallen just short so many times, so it was nice to see. He beat good guys."
Chambers lost his first match to Wartburg's Zach McKray 10-8 then whipped Elmhurst's Kenny Thomas 19-3, ending the match via technical fall at 5:26, beat UW-Whitewater's Austin Bautista 16-2 in a rematch of their WIAC championship bout Feb. 18, then beat the seventh-seeded Manoogian to clinch his honors.
"When you look at how Zach started the day, he had to come back and win three straight matches," Walter said. "A lot of guys would have thrown in the towel."
Chambers said, "this weekend was hard, coming back from a first-round loss. I don't like to lose. It's usually hard for me to come back, but I kept telling myself this was my last chance to do something about it."
On Saturday, Chanbers beat Luther's Travuis Grawin via a 17-1 technical fall and fourth-seeded MikeGaeta from Springfield 11-5 before falling in the third-place match to fifth seeded Jared Creason of Coe 18-11.
His weekend plight was well-documented by CBS Sports, who were with him on campus Thursday and then throughout the championships for an upcoming national special.
"It really was hard," Chambers admitted. "These guys have been following me around all weekend. I've been trying to hide some of the time. I know it's for something good, but it was hard."
Higgins had a hard match in his quarterfinals, facing top-ranked Jared Evans from Augsburg. Higgins gave the favorite a battle, but Evans eventually prevailed 10-4. Higgins then had to beat Kastel for the second time this season.
"When I wrestled him earlier in the year, I spotted him a 4-1 lead," he said. "I knew I had to get rough from the beginning. Once I got the cradle at the end of the first, I went up by three or four points, and I could see he was out of it mentally. I just kept pouring it on."
Higgins won a close match in the first round. The eighth-seed used a reversal and takedown with 52 seconds left to beat Wartburg's Adam Weber 13-9.
Milks' first-round upset put him against fourth-seeded Bobby Gingerich of North Central, and Gingerich avenged an earlier loss to Milks by a 13-5 score. St. John's Jacob Malone then stopped Milks 5-0 in the all-American match.
Even though he finished 1-2, Milks created quite a buzz when he beat the fifth seed in the opening round. It seemed like a big deal to everyone but the freshman Milks.
"I'm used to going up against strong guys," Milks said with a shrug after his pin of Mount St. Joseph's Elliott Spence. "I've wrestled the number two and number five guy in the nation this year already."
With the match tied 4-4 in the third period, Milks was able to take Spence's arm behind his back, then continued turning him until he scored the pinfall 5:46 into the match.
"I knew that I had him once I turned him," Milks said.
The Pioneers finished 13 in the team standings. Augsburg won the national title, while Wartburg was second and UW-La Crosse third.
Related Links
NCAA Championship site: http://depts.loras.edu/sports/2007ncaawrestling/index.html