Coe College Sports Releases
Contact: Ryan Workman, Sports Information Director
E-mail: sid@coe.edu

Four Kohawks advance to NCAA National Semifinals

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Four of the five Kohawk wrestlers that qualified for the NCAA Championships this weekend have advanced to the National Semifinals. Freshman Clayton Rush (Aledo, Ill./Aledo), senior Niles Mercer (Keosauqua, Iowa/Van Buren), sophomore Tyler Burkle (Coggon, Iowa/North Linn) and senior Tyler Jentz (Hortonville, Wis./Hortonville) will wrestle at 10 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals. All four, along with sophomore Rob Kramer (Swisher, Iowa/Prairie) have guaranteed themselves of All-American status, the most in school history for one season.

After receiving a first round bye, Rush got things started with a 15-7 major decision over Mike McInally of Rochester Institute at 125 pounds. He then earned All-American honors with a 3-2 win over seventh-seeded Munkhbaatar of St. Johns. The second-seeded Rush will take his 35-4 record against sixth-seeded Chris Sheetz of Delaware Valley in the semifinals. Sheetz pinned third-seeded Jake Oster of Elmhurst to advance to the semifinals.

Mercer pulled the biggest upset for the Kohawks at 141 pounds. One of two unseeded Kohawks at the meet, Mercer beat second-seeded Dan Hall of Delaware Valley 4-1. In the quarterfinals, Mercer became Coe's second All-American with a 10-8 upset over seventh-seeded Austin Bautista of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Mercer will face unseeded Jason Adams of Augsburg in the semifinals. Like Mercer, Adams upset the three and six seeds to advance.

Second-seeded Burkle rolled to two-straight victories to improve his record to a perfect 37-0 on the year. In the second round, Burkle pinned Patrick Stanley of John Hopkins in 5:46. He then picked up an 11-2 major decision over Patrick Nagel of Wisconsin-Whitewater to gain All-American honors. He will face sixth-seeded Ben Youel of North Central in the semifinals.

Jentz earned two close victories to gain his All-American honors as he beat Jared Czarneski of Roger Williams 4-1 in the second round before beating David Priest of Ithaca in the quarterfinals. Jentz will face third-seeded Kyle Vanderhyde of Olivet in the semifinals.

Kramer was the only Kohawk to be defeated on the day, as he lost a close 4-2 match to seventh-seeded Josh Holforty of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Holforty went on to upset second-seeded Alec Bonander of Luther in the quarterfinals, while Kramer picked up a 3-2 win over eighth-seeded Diego Crespo of Johnson and Wales in the consolation first round. With the win, Kramer has guaranteed himself All-American honors.

At the conclusion of the first round, the Kohawks were in fourth place with 11 points. Wartburg holds the top spot with 22 points while defending national champion Augsburg is second with 13.5 points. Coe trails Wisconsin-La Crosse for third by two points.

Wrestling will resume Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center. The semifinals, along with the 7 p.m. championship matches, will be streamed live at www.coe.edu/ncaawrestling.