Zempel Qualifies For Nationals, Falcons Take 6th At League Tourney
Posted: 2/23/2008
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Senior Josh Cragg was one of six all-conference graplers for Messiah following Saturday's ECWC Championships.

Oneonta, NY — In just its first year as a member of the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference, the Messiah College wrestling team finished sixth out of eight teams at Saturday’s league championship match at Oneonta State University, placing six wrestlers to all-conference status while sending one — sophomore Trent Zempel — to the NCAA Division III National Championships in two weeks.

Zempel, ranked ninth in the country among all 165-pounders, picked up an at-large bid to the national championships after finishing 2-2 on the day. He was the eighth at-large qualifier to be selected from the conference event.

Messiah gathered just 37.5 team points in finishing sixth out of eight participating programs, but placed more wrestlers in the top four of their respective weight classes — six — than any other school aside from tournament co-champions Ithaca College and the University of New York at Cortland.

Zempel joined freshman Mike Bressler (second at 157), senior Josh Cragg (third at 133), junior Craig Gin (fourth at 149), junior Matt McHugh (fourth at 184) and freshman David Jones (fourth at 174) as all-conference wrestlers, with Bressler narrowly missing out on an automatic berth to national competition. Bressler had a 4-2 lead on Rochester Institute of Technology’s Nathan Bachmann heading into the third period, but dropped a heartbreaking 6-4 decision in the finals of the 157-pound weight class.

Zempel will now carry on the Falcons’ torch by himself, as Messiah finished the season with a 10-12 team record and a ranking of 26th in the country. Zempel will travel to Coe College and Cornell College in central Iowa for the 2008 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships beginning Friday, Mar. 7 and concluding Saturday, Mar. 8.

Ithaca and Cortland shared the ECWC team title with 76.5 points. Lycoming College finished in third place (49.5), followed by Brockport State University (47), Oneonta (42.5), Messiah (37.5), Rochester (33.5) and Oswego State University (27.5).

For complete results and class-by-class breakdown of the ECWC league match, click here. For complete details regarding the 2008 National Championships, click here.