Princeton’s Monday, Rider’s Laird finish out All-America seasons at NCAA Wrestling Championships

TULSA, Okla. — With a second straight appearance in the finals by Princeton University 125-pounder Patrick Glory still to come on Saturday night, two All-American wrestlers from Princeton and Rider wrapped up stellar showings earlier in the day at the NCAA Championships.

After dropping a tough one-point decision in the semifinals, Princeton 167-pounder Quincy Monday stormed back with two high quality wins against formidable opponents to finish third.

First, Monday defeated Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin by the score of 9-7. The Princeton senior then wrapped up a stellar career for the Tigers that included a second at nationals last year with a 3-2 win over Michigan’s Cameron Amine. Monday’s final record for the year was 27-3.

“It was just heart, it was very tough, I was really down on myself, especially the way (the semifinal) ended,” said Monday in a published report. “I didn’t go out on my own terms, so I set out to do that (finish third).”

After losing in the semifinals, Rider 197-pounder Ethan Laird lost two more matches on Saturday to finish in the sixth spot. Laird’s day began with a 5-2 loss to Bernie Truax of Cal Poly. He then lost again by the score of 7-3 to Iowa’s Jacob Warner in the fifth/sixth match.

Although Laird ended the year with three straight losses, his 28-4 final record and a berth in the semifinals goes down as one of the greatest seasons in the history of Rider wrestling.

Two New Jersey scholastic wrestlers who finished third were Penn State 149-pound freshman Shane Van Ness (Blair Academy) and Cornell 174-pounder Chris Foca (Bergen Catholic).

As was totally expected, Penn State won the team championship for the 10th time in the last 12 years the tournament has been held by officially locking it up in the wrestle-backs.

For the second straight year Penn State advanced five wrestlers into the finals. And after the wrestle-backs were completed, Penn State held a mammoth 45-point lead over second-place Iowa.