Three Eagles to compete in national wrestling championships

This past Friday and Saturday the Eagle Wrestlers traveled to Grand Junction, Colo., to compete at the NCAA Super Region 4 Tournament.

The top three wrestlers in each weight bracket at this tournament advance to the NCAA D-II National Championships held in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15.

Chadron State is sending three wrestlers to the National Championship. They are Dustin Stodola, senior of Clarkson, 133-pounds; Jordan DeBus, senior of Mitchell, 184-pounds; and Michael Hill, junior of Fort Laramie, Wyo., 285-pounds. These three wrestlers placed second, second, and third respectively.

The tournament was double elimination, and there were several Eagle wrestlers that made it close to Nationals. Among these were CJ Clark, sophomore of Rapid City, S.D., 157-pounds; Caleb Copeland, freshman of Bennett, Colo., 174-pounds; and Devan Fors, junior of Roseburg, Ore., 197-pounds.

Stodola, DeBus, and Hill are now preparing to compete at the National level.

“I plan to work hard and smart. I want to fine-tune my technique. I want to recover and make sure I am 100% going into Nationals, “ DeBus said. “Nationals has a way of making you very nervous and scared. Nationals is the end of the road and there are no re-dos. Everything in the year was done solely for this tournament. There is a lot more pressure.”