Three Harper wrestlers claimed individual crowns in their respective weight classes to guide the Harper College wrestling team to a third place finish at the 2014 NJCAA Midwest District meet hosted by Triton College on Sunday.
Jacob Bellis (/Bloomington), Blake Tisza (/Thornton Fractional South) and Blake Santi (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) all won their weight classes while Kerin Ramirez () and Greg Jacquez (/West Aurora) took second place in their weight classes. Tyler Thomas (Crystal Lake, Ill.), Michael Romanelli, Kyle Bridgeman (/AFC) and Lavontay Cobb (/King College Prep) all placed third in their divisions to qualify for nationals. Michael Lurz (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) finished in fourth place at 165 pounds but received a wild card bid to nationals. All 10 Harper wrestlers qualified for the three-day (Feb. 27-March 1) national meet in Spokane, Wash. Harper is the only team in the region to have all 10 qualify.
The Hawks scored 83.5 points in the meet. First place Lincoln College scored 99.5 points while runner-up Muskegon Community College was not far behind with 95.5 points. Triton College (29.5 points) and Waubonsee Community College (14 points) took fourth and fifth place.
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Bellis, who has not lost a match in over two months at 125 pounds, topped Triton's Thomas Angsten 12-3 to reach the final. In a hard-fought title match, he bested Muskegon's Devane Dodgens 7-5. Tisza beat Lincoln's Enoch McCottrell via pin fall in 45 seconds before edging Muskegon's Cody Stenberg 7-6 in the 141-pound final.
At 149 pounds, Santi beat Lincoln's Graham Lough 10-2 to reach the final. He dominated Muskegon's Tyler Stenberg 12-2 for an individual title.
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Ramirez scored a 22-12 victory over Lincoln's Camron Halton and a 6-3 victory over Triton's Jameel Carter to reach the championship. Muskegon's Zachary Cooper proved to be too much for him in the 133-pound final as he settled for second place. Jacquez came out strong at 157 pounds with an 8-5 victory over Waubonsee's Alex Contini but lost to Lincoln's Luke Dunn in the final.
The most recent NJCAA poll has Harper ranked just outside the top-20.
