LEXINGTON, Va. – Four Ursinus College wrestlers reached the semifinals and several more are still alive as the Bears sit in third place after the first day of competition at the NCAA East Regional on the campus of Washington and Lee University.
Sophomore Chris Tan (125), senior Christian Hoogheem (141), junior Derek Arnold (149), and junior Corey Markovitch (174) all advanced to the semifinals of their respective brackets for Ursinus, which posted a team score of 52.5 points to trail only Stevens (66.5) and TCNJ (56.5) after Day One. Those four Bears can book a trip to the Division III championships with one more victory.
Tan started his regional journey with a technical fall against McDaniel's Jacob Rendelman before pinning NYU's Wayne Yuan in an even four minutes to advance to the semifinals. The sophomore will go up against Delaware Valley's Brenden Velez on Sunday morning with a spot in the national tournament on the line.
Christian Hoogheem made quick work of his two opponents, dismissing Greensboro's Jonathan Bennett via technical fall, 16-1, and then pinning W&L's Alex Pollera. Hoogheem faces top-seeded Ryan Budzek, ranked eighth in the nation at 141, in Sunday's semifinals.
Arnold, a 2015 All-American and Division III's No. 2 grappler at 149, needed only to defeat Johns Hopkins' Connor Joyce, which he did with a 15-0 shutout, to reach the semifinals. Arnold takes on Nathan Twitto of Merchant Marine in the semifinal round.
Markovitch, meanwhile, will contend for a berth in the national tournament after an impressive two bouts. First, he edged Blake Rosenbaum of Ferrum College with a 9-6 decision, then ousted McDaniel's Nicholas Cross by fall in 3:30. Markovitch opposes Centenary's Joshua Sibblies, ranked No. 9 in the nation, in the semifinals.
Three other Ursinus wrestlers remain alive, including junior Alex Kramer at 157. After a 5-4 setback at the hands of TCNJ's Antonio Mancella, who came in ranked fifth in the country, in the quarterfinals, Kramer pinned Hopkins' Tommy Grifa in a mere 50 seconds. He will take on Gettysburg's Colin Kowalski in Sunday's consolation bracket.
Sophomore Cody Richmond bounced back from an 8-2 opening-round loss to NYU's William Gockel-Figge to win a pair of consolation bouts. He knocked off Greensboro's Emmanuel Garcia, 17-9, before notching an 8-4 verdict opposite Hopkins' Isaac Morales. Richmond meets Delaware Valley's Nick Della Fera, listed as a "contender" in the d3wrestle.com rankings at 184.
Freshman Zeb Pfeiffer also remains in the hunt for a spot in nationals. The big rookie downed Greensboro's Mykel Williams, 9-5, in the first round before succumbing to Zachery Roseberry of Delaware Valley, the nation's No. 2 wrestler, in the quarterfinals. Pfeiffer rebounded to score a 10-2 major decision over Tyler Anthony of Hampden-Sydney and will face Ralph Bernardo of King's in the consolation.