Kervin Wins 165 National Title

PARK CITY, Kan. – The Indiana Tech men's wrestling team traveled to Park City, Kansas, this past weekend to compete in the 67th Annual NAIA Men's Wrestling National Championships, hosted at Hartman Arena. Jonathan Kervin highlighted the event for Tech, claiming the National Champion Title in the 165 weight class. The Warriors took tenth in the event, scoring 49.5 points as a team, with Grand View (Iowa) claiming their 12th National Title since 2012, scoring 209.5 points.

The Warriors had three student-athletes earn All-American honors (All-American is awarded to the top eight finishers of their weight class) for their performance at the National Event.

In his first year with the Warrior wrestling program, Jonathan Kervin found himself atop the podium in the 165-lb weight class. Kervin received a bye in the first round as the third seed but tore through his first two matches, 17-7, over the fourteenth seed Dayton Hill of Ottawa, and pinned Morningside's Zander Ernst. In the semifinal, Kervin downed Menlo's second-seeded Rysan Leong 4-3. To complete the ascent to the top, Kervin won 11-5 over the fourth seed, Keller Rock, out of Embry Riddle.

Allen Calderon, the 16-seed Freshman, finished sixth at 125 lbs. Calderon took care of business in his first match, winning 4-0 over Landon Smith of Embry-Riddle. In the second round, Calderon turned some heads with a big 12-6 upset over the Grand View's No. 1 seeded Aden Reeves. In the quarterfinal, he took down the ninth seed, Austin Franco, with a 9-0 major. After his 3-0 start to find a spot in the semifinal, Calderon finished the event, dropping three straight for an All-American sixth-place finish.

Nate Wheeler finished sixth in the 157-lb weight class with a 4-3 record. As the seventh seed in the bracket, Wheeler downed Juan Lopez 2-1 and No. 10 Bridger Hall of Providence 8-6 in his first two rounds. Wheeler's first setback came in the quarterfinals to the two seed, Antwuan Burns of Campbellsville. Wheeler got back on track in his next two matches with 8-1 and 15-5 wins over Southeastern's fifth-seeded Salvador Silva and Grand View's sixth-seeded Dylan Whitt, respectively, before finishing sixth.