Senior Jordan Newman secured his second consecutive national title on Saturday, March 10 at the NCAA Division III National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.
Newman is only the second Warhawk to ever win back-to-back national championships and, this time, it was over No. 3 seeded Tyler Lutes of Wartburg (Iowa), in a 9-1 decision. Newman managed to finish the weekend at 4-0 while ending up 29-2 on the year.
“The night belonged to Jordan Newman,” head coach Ned Shuck said. “He had an incredibly dominating performance again. His laser-like focus, commitment and determination successfully executed was the difference in him completing the quest to be a two-time national champion.”
Sophomore Mike Tortorice finished the weekend on a high note, winning three consecutive matches to finish third in the tournament. This was Tortorice’s first trip to the NCAA National Tournament and he managed to finish with a strong 5-1 record–36-5 on the year.
In his semifinal match, Jordan Newman came back from an early deficit against fifth-seeded Christos Giatras of Augustana (Ill.), before turning Giatras onto his back with just under 40 seconds to go in the first period.
In his consolation quarterfinal match, Mike Tortorice won over No. 6 seed Christopher Doyle of Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) by a 7-4 decision. Then, after entering the third period of his semifinal match tied 2-2, Tortorice was able to win by a 3-2 decision over No. 8 Nick Mancini of Mount Union (Ohio) after being awarded a point for riding time. Finally, in his third-place match, Tortorice was able to hang onto his 3-2 lead over No. 3 Jonathan Haas of Brockport (N.Y.), after an early escape in the third period put him ahead by one. Mike Tortorice is the third straight UW-Whitewater All-American at 125 pounds.
“Mike was incredibly resilient,” Shuck said. “To lose in the first round and to come all the way back to third was awesome. He had some gutsy performances, including a win over his first-round loss and beating a kid he lost to earlier in the year.”
The Warhawks finished with 35 points as a team, just three shy of eighth-place Messiah (Pa.).
This weekend marked the end of what was a profound 2018 UW-Whitewater wrestling season. The program says goodbye to just two accomplished seniors, Jordan Newman and Austin Quartullo. Newman, who is now a back-to-back national champion, also took home a WIAC title and finished 29-2 on the year. Austin Quartullo, who fulfilled a significant leadership role this season, took home a WIAC championship of his own.
Junior Nicholas Bonomo also represented the Warhawks in Cleveland over the weekend. Bonomo lost his first two matches at 165 pounds ending his weekend early.
But, as Mike Tortorice’s performance at this weekend’s NCAA National Championships can attest, the seniors weren’t the only standout wrestlers. This year the team had an extra boost from a handful of standout sophomores who, during the regular season, recorded an outstanding collective record of 117-29: Riley Kauzlaric (22-9), Hazen Rice (23-6), Devin Tortorice (17-2), Mike Tortorice (27-3), and Wilder Wichman (28-9). Kauzlaric was the Warhawks’ only Academic All-American after meeting the criteria by winning 67 percent of his matches and by maintaining at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale for a full academic year.
The Warhawks finished a perfect 5-0 in conference this season, a distinguished improvement on last year’s 3-2 conference record, while their 10-5 overall record (.667) is a comparable improvement on last season’s 11-6 (.647).
In the postseason, the UWW wrestlers repeated last year’s second-place finish at the WIAC Conference Championships, but then improved on their Regional performance–finishing third, as opposed to last year’s fourth–and their National performance–finishing 9th overall, as opposed to last year’s 13th.
“I’m proud of all of our guys and the efforts. They all had great seasons. I’m fired up for next year.”
