Waterloo, Iowa – Cody Quinn won the 165-lb weight class as No. 8 Minnesota State had four wrestlers punch their ticket to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship on Saturday, en route to a third-place finish with 84.5 points. Quinn, along with David Demo (125 lbs), Alphonso Vruno (133 lbs) and Aaron Norgren (184 lbs) all extended their seasons with their performances at Young Arena.
No. 7 Cody Quinn went 4-0 to claim his first regional championship. The returning All-American opened the day with a 5-0 win over Brock Krumm (Mary) before pinning Clark Driz (Newman) at 1:25 and defeating Wade Gobin (Upper Iowa) 4-2. In the championship match, Quinn defeated Jacob Begin (Southwest Minnesota State) 12-3. In doing so, Quinn redeemed an earlier loss to Begin, his only defeat in conference action and earns his spot on the NSIC All-Conference First Team.
No. 4 Aaron Norgren (184 lbs) will make his fourth appearance at the national championship as the senior finished in second-place. Norgren, a two-time All-American, opened the day with three-consecutive wins before dropping the championship match, 2-0 to Shamus O’Grady (St. Cloud State). Norgren defeated Cody George (Minot State) 3-1 and Ryan Beltz (Maryville) 8-4 before recording a 3-1 sudden victory over Mitch Schultz (Upper Iowa). With his runner-up finish, Norgren earns a spot on the NSIC All-Conference Second Team.
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After starting out 2-0 with a pin of Ed Reno (Southwest Minnesota State) at 3:27 and a 7-4 decision over Brandon Oshiro (Maryville), returning All-American David Demo (125-lbs) lost a 2-1 decision to Eric Forde (St. Cloud State) to move him to the consolation bracket. After defeating Chris Paulus (Upper Iowa) 1-0, Demo returned to the mat and defeated Anthony Bruno 5-3 in overtime to earn third-place and a return trip to the national championship.
No. 7 Alphonso Vruno followed a similar path en route to capturing third-place in the 133-lb weight class. The freshman won his first two matches, including a 17-2 major decision over Tyler Frost (Northern State) and a 6-0 decision over Jeremiah Peterson (Augustana). After dropping a 6-0 decision to Andy Pokorny (St. Cloud State), Vruno claimed a 5-2 victory over Philippe Walker (MSU Moorhead) and a 14-4 major decision win over Justin Reinsma (Southwest Minnesota State) in the third-place match.
Other Mavericks in competition today included freshmen Thomas Allen (149 lbs) and Sawyer Hoffman (157 lbs), junior Brendan Eichmann (174 lbs), senior Nathan Haynes (197 lbs) and junior Corby Running (285 lbs).
The Maverick quartet will wrestle on March 8-9 at the CrossPlex Complex in Birmingham, Ala.
NCAA Division II Super Regional 3 results