SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Facing the most challenging day at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships, Newman's Dustin Reed picked up two wins in a span of three hours and walked out of the Denny Sanford Premier Center as the fifth-place finisher at 125 pounds Saturday.
With the junior's two wins Friday night, he locked up a spot in the top eight, securing the first All-America finish for a Newman athlete in an individual sport since the school joined the NCAA. He went 2-1 in Saturday morning's medal round to lock up his fifth-place medal.
After two bouts that came down to the wire in the consolation quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday morning, Reed got a chance at a bit of payback, as he faced off against Western State's Ronald Wardleigh, the opponent who edged him in the regional semifinals two weeks ago. Reed didn't give Wardleigh much of a chance from the start, recording two takedowns in the first two minutes of the match to take a 4-1 lead after the first period.
Reed took a full minute to escape from bottom in the second, but took just 11 seconds after getting out to pick up his third takedown of the match, and rode Wardleigh out to take a 7-1 lead into the final two minutes. Wardleigh managed to get a takedown midway through the third and added a stall point, but it was too late, as Reed hung on for the 7-4 victory.
In a match that was similar to his close win in the consolation second round Friday night, Reed topped Newberry's Trung Duong with a late takedown to grab the 5-4 win. He got in for the first takedown of the bout halfway through the first period, but gave one up a minute later to head to the second period down 3-2. A quick escape to start the second tied things up at 3-3, but with no points scored the rest of the frame, Duong went back up with an escape to start the third.
Letting Duong be the aggressor and waiting for his opportunity to counter, Reed did just that with 27 seconds left in the match. Duong shot low at Reed's left ankle, and the Newman grappler spun around to get behind Duong at get control for his second takedown and a 5-4 lead. Battling at the edge of the mat in the final seconds, Duong nearly escaped to tie it up once more, but Reed was able to snag an ankle and hold on for the last ticks of the clock.
In his second match of the morning session, Reed had another tough matchup against Notre Dame (Ohio)'s Jacob Goodwin, who fell in the semifinals while Reed was winning his consolation quarterfinal. The two felt each other out during a scoreless first period, and each escaped quickly to start the second and third periods to move into a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.
Heading into sudden victory, where the first point scored would end the match, the action was fast, with both wrestlers going for the winning takedown and countering solid shots. As the time wound down, Goodwin got control of Reed's head near the edge of the mat and was able to slide around for the winning two points just as the horn sounded, and the call was upheld on video review.
