Three KU Wrestlers Earn All-America Honors

Kutztown University wrestlers Andrew Dunn Jr., Jeff Reimel and T.C. Warner became All-Americans this past weekend at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.

Redshirt sophomore Andrew Dunn Jr. (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic (Virginia Tech)) wrote a new chapter in Golden Bear wrestling history Saturday night, edging Nebraska-Kearney's Jarrod Hinrichs, 2-1, to claim the 2019 NCAA Division II 285-pound National Championship at the Wolstein Center.

Dunn Jr. is the fifth KU grappler to win a national championship all-time and first since Ziad Haddad in 2015. Haddad won back-to-back championships at 285 lbs. in 2014 and 2015, making Dunn the program's third national champion from the weight class.

The former Bethlehem Catholic standout joined Kutztown this season after going 20-11 and qualifying for the NCAA Division I Championships last season as a freshman at Virginia Tech. Dunn Jr.'s immense talent showed right away as he opened the season with seven consecutive victories, many against DI competitors.

Dunn Jr. would only drop two matches on the entire season (26-2), both to DI opponents, and finished the year with 18 straight wins to claim Super Region I and NCAA DII championships.

After advancing to the semifinals Friday, Dunn Jr., ranked fourth by the NWCA, met up with top-ranked Kameron Teacher of Notre Dame (Ohio) in the semifinals Saturday morning. Dunn Jr. quickly jumped to a 6-3 lead with three takedowns and increased his advantage over last year's national-runner up to 7-3 with an escape 19 seconds into the second.

Two penalty points in the final 1:26 of the third allowed Teacher to get within a point, but Dunn Jr. earned his spot in the national final with a 7-6 decision.

The national championship match between Dunn Jr. and fifth-ranked Hinrichs was much more defensive, though Kutztown's entry tried to be the aggressor early on. Hinrichs was called for stalling twice with the latter resulting in a penalty point that put Dunn Jr. in front.

Hinrich's started from the bottom in the second and escaped nine seconds into the period to tie the score at one. Dunn Jr. countered with an escape from bottom nine seconds into the third to restore his one-point lead. Though he was hit with a stall warning in the final 10 seconds, the clock ran out and Dunn Jr. had his national title with a 2-1 decision.

Senior Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), ranked No. 1 at 184, also entered Saturday with national championship aspirations, but he ran into a determined Michael Pixley of McKendree in the semifinals. Pixley scored a takedown and four-point nearfall in the first minute and led 10-3 after a period.

A frustrated Reimel was called for his second and third misconducts in the second period and disqualified from the match after ceding four penalty points. Pixley would go on to win the national title.

Reimel, who finished as an All-American in 2018 with a fifth-place finish at 184, dropped his consolation semifinal to Pitt-Johnstown's Brock Biddle, 15-13, in overtime. Reimel used a four-point nearfall early in the third to take an 11-9 lead, but Biddle answered with a reversal to tie it. The two grapplers traded reversals in the final 51 seconds of regulation, with Biddle tying the match at 13 with 17 seconds left.

Biddle won the match 21 seconds into the extra session with a takedown. Reimel took sixth in the weight class after a medical forfeit of the fifth-place match, but still earned his second straight All-America honor. Reimel ended the season 18-2.

T.C. Warner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Bloomsburg)) also became a two-time All-American on Friday during wrestle backs at 174 lbs. He scored an 11-2 major decision over Seton Hill's Damon Greenwald in the consolation quarterfinals, before falling to third-ranked Kolton Eischens of St. Cloud State in the consolation semis by pin (2:30).

Warner, from Mechanicsburg, capped his career with a win in the fifth-place match -an impressive one at that. The senior knocked off No. 1 Brandon Supernaw of Western Colorado, 6-2, behind two takedowns, an escape and a riding time point. Warner, who was 15-0 entering nationals, went 4-2 to finish 19-2.

Head coach Robert Fisher's Golden Bears brought home the first top 10 national team finish in program history, placing 10th with 41 points. After advancing all the way to seventh in the NWCA Poll and tying a record for the highest national ranking in program history during the regular season, Kutztown surpassed its former best national showing of 14th, set in 2015.