Wrestling closes season, Castro places eighth at NCAA DIII Central Regional

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Defiance College senior wrestler Alejandro Castro earned a podium finish as the 2022-23 wrestling season came to a close for the Yellow Jackets at the NCAA DIII Regional Central hosted by Case Western Reserve on Saturday and Sunday.

The top three wrestlers from each weight class advance to the DIII National Championships in Roanoke, Va. on March 10-11. Full results can be viewed by clicking here.

Castro picked up six of Defiance's 10 team points by picking up three wins in the 157-pound weight class and was the lone DC grappler to reach the second day of competition. The Syracuse, Ind. native won his preliminary match by an 8-2 decision before falling by a technical fall to Ohio Northern's Teagan Hendricks in the first round of the championship bracket. Castro fought back to win 14-5 and 5-4 decisions over Garrett Simmons from Wilmington and Peyton Brooks from Albion to advance to the third consolation round. He paired up with Calvin Cai of Case Western and narrowly lost a 9-7 match to land in the seventh place match. It was a rematch against ONU's Hendricks that resulted in a 7-1 victory for Hendricks to place Castro in eighth with a 3-3 record for the weekend.

Jack Minner picked up 2.5 points for Defiance competing at 174 as the senior went 1-2 in his final meet. Minner lost his first prelim by a technical fall in 6:47 but bounced back to pin Noah Johnson from Mount St. Joseph in 1:40. The London, Ohio native reached the consolation bracket and was taken down in three minutes by Olivet's Owen Guilford.

Sophomore 141-pounder Kliever Joseph picked up a win for the Jackets and finished 1-2. The Floridian started out by facing the tournament's eventual champion, Jacob Reed from ONU, and was pinned in 2:21. Joseph ousted Manchester's Landen Dilly with a 13-4 decision before Art Martinez from Case Western ended Joseph's day by fall in 2:38.

Rigo Villa was the only other wrestler to face a national qualifier, losing his second match of the day to 285 runner-up Donovan King from Olivet. Villa lost both matches he wrestled for the Jackets. Other wrestlers competing for Defiance over the weekend that went two-and-done were Shamique Bryant at 149, Keringten Martin at 165, Joey Perez at 184 and Kelvin Ruffin at 197.

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