ROANOKE, Va.—The Roger Williams Wrestling team had two wrestlers compete in the Division III NCAA Championships today.
The first match of the day was
Tyler Gazaway (New Providence, N.J.) facing off against Logan Schlough of Wisconsin-LaCrosse at 149. Neither wrestler was able to score in the opening period, putting the score at 0-0 going into the second. Halfway through the second period, Gazaway claimed a 1-0 lead after mounting an escape. His one-point lead held through the rest of the second and most of the third until an escape by Schlough tied the match at one apiece late into the bout. The score remained tied at the conclusion of the third period, forcing overtime.
In the extra period, it appeared that the match would be headed to a second overtime period. However, Schlough was able to score a takedown on Gazaway with 17 seconds left in overtime to earn the upset win.
The second RWU match of the day saw
Taylor Shay (New Fairfield, Conn.) square off against Alec Donovan of Centenary in the 165 pound bracket. Shay was able to earn a quick 2-0 lead with a takedown of Donovan a minute into the match. An escape by Donovan later made it 2-1 in Shay's favor entering the second period. Donovan would notch another escape in the second, tying the bout at two apiece going into the third.
In the third period, an escape by Shay put him back up 3-2, but a takedown by Donovan gave him a 4-3 lead with just under a minute to go. Shay notched another escape with 30 seconds left to tie the match at four. The turning point came with nine seconds left, as Shay scored a crucial takedown to go up 6-4, en route to his 6-5 win.
Gazaway's next match in consolation round one was against Zachary Cooper (Chippewa Hills, Mich.) of Alma College that resulted in a loss by a major decision 12-2.
Shay's next match in the quarterfinals was against #7 Dempsey King (New Hartford, N.Y.) of Rochester Institute of Technology. It was an extremely close match that went into double overtime but resulted in a 3-2 loss for Shay.
In the consolation second round, Shay won by decision 5-3 over opponent Sam Gross (Beachwood, OH) of John Caroll University.
Shay will move on to the second day of NCAA Championships tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.
