Cortland Standard .net

HERSHEY, PA - Fourth-seeded SUNY Cortland junior Joe Giaramita knocked off the second seed Shane Siefert of Wisconsin-Whitewater in overtime to capture the national title at 197 pounds at the NCAA Division III Championships Saturday night.
Giaramita, now a three-time All-American, won Cortland’s fifth overall individual title and first since Stef Sair in 2006. Red Dragon senior Tyler Beckwith also earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish at 184 pounds.
The Red Dragons finished 13th out of 62 teams at the Championships with 28 points. Augsburg ended Wartburg’s four-year run as national champion with 100 points. Wartburg placed second with 89.5 points, followed by Wabash (66.5), Wisconsin-Whitewater (60.5) and Delaware Valley (58.5). This was Cortland’s fifth consecutive top-15 national finish.
In the championship bout, Giaramita fell behind 2-0 on near-fall points in the second period before earning an escape to make it a 2-1 score heading to the third period. Siefert escaped early to go ahead 3-1, but Giaramita was awarded a point on a warning to pull within 3-2. Moments later, Giaramita registered a takedown to grab a 4-3 lead, but Siefert quickly escaped to tie the bout at 4-4.
Video replay came into play not long after as the officials awarded Siefert a takedown and Giaramita an escape, but the ruling was reversed and kept the bout at 4-4. Neither wrestler scored in the remaining time of regulation, sending the match to overtime. In the first one-minute extra session, Giaramita controlled Siefert with 18 seconds left to earn the two points for the takedown and the title. He finishes the season 32-1 after recording a 5-0 record at the national meet.
Giaramita advanced to the championship bout with a pin against top-seeded Eric Twohey of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Twohey scored first with a takedown 1:49 into the first period, but Giaramita quickly worked a reversal and earned the fall with 51 seconds on the clock. The pin was his ninth of the season and raised his record to 31-1.
Beckwith dropped a heartbreaking 8-7 decision to Wheaton’s Daniel Olsen in the third round of the consolation bracket to open the day. Beckwith led 2-0 after one period on a takedown and took a 4-2 lead into the final period. Olsen chose neutral and tied the score with a quick takedown. After Beckwith escaped, Olsen registered a takedown with 40 seconds left to grab a 6-5 lead, although Beckwith had built enough riding time to earn a point. His escape with 23 seconds remaining tied the bout, but for the second time at the Championships, he came out on the wrong end of a video review of a last-second takedown. With seconds remaining, the two locked up and the referees signaled no takedown as time expired. After reviewing the video, the two points were awarded to Olsen, who was given the 8-7 decision.
In the bout for seventh or eighth place, Beckwith dropped a 7-2 decision to New York University’s Patrick Sheehan. Beckwith finished the season 25-7 and posted a 34-10 career mark as a Red Dragon.
Cortland’s third wrestler at the Championships, Adrian Berry, dropped two matches and the finished the season with a 24-15 record.