LA CROSSE, WIS.— A phenomenal weekend for the Central College wrestling team concluded with a pair of top-five placewinners at the NCAA Division III wrestling championships.
With the 10 championship bouts still to be contested Saturday night, the Dutch are likely to finish in 18th place with 23 team points.
At 125 pounds C.J. Pestano (junior, Torrance, Calif.) wound up in fourth place and Cam Timok (sophomore, Glen Allen, Va./Heritage HS) was fifth at 133 pounds. The duo earned the program's 47th and 48th All-American honors. Timok became the 37th Dutch All-American and Pestano is now the 11th to earn it at least twice.
"The thing people need to remember about Saturday morning is that every guy you wrestle is an All-American," coach Eric Van Kley said. "For C.J. and Cam to each go 2-1 against three All-Americans, I couldn't be more proud of their efforts.
Pestano started his morning with wins against a pair of top-four seeds, taking decisions over No. 4 Victor Gilva of Augsburg College (Minn.) and No. 3 Zac Denny of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. In the third-place match, he fell to No. 7 Brock Haas of Brockport State (N.Y.) 3-2.
"He did a good job getting to his offense," Van Kley said. "It's hard to score points on days like today when all you do is wrestle All-Americans. He was very consistent against an extremely high competition level."
Timok also opened with a win over a seeded-wrestler, securing a 10-8 decision over No. 8 Maverick Passaro of Cortland State (N.Y.). After taking a tough loss against Troy Stanich of Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.), he defeated No. 4 Paul Flynn of York College (Pa.) 3-2 in the fifth-place match.
"Cam knew he had to take control of that firs match and did it with three takedowns," Van Kley said. "In the third match he bounced back with a takedown in the first 10 seconds, which ended up being a deciding factor."
Pestano's and Timok's two losses each came against a finalist and the third-place finisher in their weight classes.
It's just the second time in the last 20 years that Central has had multiple All-Americans in the same season. After breaking into the top-20 in the team standings for the first time since the 1992-93 season, Van Kley is enthused by his team's performance this season.
"It's another step in the right direction," Van Kley said. "It was a great way to wrap up a historic season for this program. I'm extremely proud of every single guy on the team that made this happen."
