CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Derek Arnold shook off a first-round upset and survived a major scare in his first consolation bout to win two matches at the Division III wrestling championships. Unfortunately, Arnold came up just short, his season ending one victory away from cementing All-American status for the second straight year.
Sophomore Chris Tan lost both of his bouts in the 125-pound tournament, closing out his superb campaign.
The top-seeded Arnold, who placed fourth in 2015, opened against Cornell College's Trevor Engle, a four-time national qualifier in search of his first NCAA medal. Bidding for an upset, Engle registered two takedowns in the first period and took a 4-2 advantage into the second stanza.
Starting on bottom, Arnold closed the gap to one with an escape, and a takedown late in the period gave him the lead, 5-4, with one segment remaining.
With Engle holding over a minute of riding time, Arnold needed to score to avoid overtime. But Engle had other plans, scoring a takedown with only five seconds on the third-period clock to complete the 7-5 upset and hand Arnold his first loss to a Division III opponent all year.
Arnold was pushed to the brink in his first consolation match pitted against Wisconsin-Whitewater sophomore Isaiah Vela, who came in sporting a record of 28-6. The Bears' top grappler fell behind early again, this time trailing 6-2 after Vela recorded three first-period takedowns.
Arnold rode Vela the entire second period, eventually using a late near-fall to even the score at 6 and go into the third with 1:14 of riding time in his favor. Vela used a takedown with 17 seconds left to take an 8-6 advantage, but Arnold quickly escaped with 11 seconds to go and forced overtime with just over a minute of riding time to his credit.
Two scoreless extra sessions came and went before Arnold finally put Vela away, utilizing an escape to eke out a 9-8 thriller and keep his dreams of a repeat All-America selection alive.
Using the momentum of his narrow escape, Arnold cruised to a 7-1 victory over Heidelberg's Damon Cheek in his next bout, setting up a showdown with seventh-seeded Dakota Gray of Luther, All-American status guaranteed to the victor. Gray got the best of it, grabbing a 6-2 decision.
Arnold finished the 2015-16 campaign with a record of 32-3.
Tan began his journey against Washington & Jefferson senior Jacob Spearman, who came in ranked No. 9 in his weight class by the NWCA and riding a strong recent stretch of wresting. Spearman shut out Wilkes' Michael Fleck, ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time, in the consolation bracket at regionals after dropping a tight 4-2 decision to two-time national runner-up Lucas Malmberg of Messiah in the semifinals.
Two takedowns by Spearman left Tan in a 4-1 hole at the conclusion of the first period, after which his foe had racked up just shy of two minutes' worth of riding time. An escape and takedown gave Spearman a 7-1 lead, and Tan could muster only a pair of escapes before time ran out.
Tan's season came to an end his first match of the wrestlebacks, where he found himself matched up against Wisconsin-Whitewater's Zac Denny, who gave the top-seeded Malmberg a scare before bowing out of the championship rounds with a 9-6 defeat. Denny moved on with an 11-6 decision, and Tan finished his sensational sophomore campaign with a record of 27-6.