Pratt Community College wrestling wrapped up the 2017-18 season in Council Bluffs, IA at the NJCAA wrestling national championship meet. The five Pratt wrestlers who qualified for nationals at the West Central District Region Qualifier competed for a chance to be the national champion of their perspective weight classes.
In the 125lbs. class, Brayan Balderrama battled for the Blue and White. In his first match, Balderrama lost to eighth ranked Noah Bauer from Rochester. Falling to the consolation bracket Balderrama rallied winning his next two matches against Jacob Mendoza and Matt Genau. Balderrama's tournament came to an end at the hands of Boo Dryden of Northeast Oklahoma A&M. Dryden advanced through the tournament to take third in the weight class.
Justin Hershberger competed for PCC in the 133 lbs. class. Hershberger won his first match against Harper's Jordan Carson. In his next match, Hershberger went up against the first ranked Todd Small from Iowa Central. Hershberger lost the bout to Small, the eventual 133 class champion, and fell to the consolation bracket. Hershberger then lost to Taylor Jeffries of Northwest Wyoming to end his run in the tournament.
At 184, JT Ellis fought hard for the Beavers. First match was against the sixth ranked Hunter Roller of Northland. Ellis lost the bout and fell to the consolation bracket. Ellis won his next two matches defeating Nick Sanfors and fifth ranked Dominic Gallo from Harper. Ellis lost to Northwest Tech's Joseph White to end the day for Ellis. White moved on to take seventh place in the weight class.
Nick Lucas ended his 2018 season on a strong showing at nationals. Lucas lost his first match of the tournament. Lucas dug deep from there having to face the seventh ranked Aaron Soloman from Camden. Lucas defeated Soloman and his next two opponents for a matchup with third ranked and defending national runner up Dillon Ulrey of Clackamas. Ulrey ended Lucas' tournament and moved on to take fourth place. Lucas came one bout away from being an all-American, a great accomplishment for the freshmen.
Kevin Kissane had the best run of the Beaver wrestlers at nationals in the 141 lbs. class. Kissane started the tournament as a wild card in part to a shoulder injury earlier this season. First up was the sixth ranked Sam Eckhart from Northeastern. Kissane won the first bout and went on to defeat Barton's Keaton Sander next. Iowa Central's third ranked Eric Clarke defeated Kissane sending him into the consolation bracket. Kissane won his next two matches over Kollin Wade and Jake Thompson before coming up against fourth ranked Tyree Johnson from Triton. Kissane lost setting up a rematch with Clarke for fifth place. Due to the injury, Kissane could not compete, but still finished sixth in the weight class.
Overall, PCC wrestling finished the 2017-18 season ranked in the top 25 nationally.
"I am very proud of the way we competed this weekend and their gratitude and effort towards representing not only our institution, program and region, but the Pratt community," said Ken Kepley head wrestling coach at PCC. "This year has been a year full of injuries and recovery, and we finished strong. We may not have finished where we wanted, but we and everyone else in the nation know where we stand if we are healthy. This goes to show how strong our team was this year with the amount of adversity we experienced. With injuries to where they had each other's backs and rose to the occasion for their injured comrades. It was a great feeling as a coach to see someone step right in, trust the process, and capitalize on their opportunities. We will use this momentum straight into the off-season. As a coach, with those freshmen coming up to me with the fire and desire to get back to work on Monday, it is the best feeling in the world. I cannot wait to get back to work with these young men and build a team around them and watch them grow as leaders."