Morales Earns Automatic Bid to NCAA DIII Wrestling Championships

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Bridgewater State University sophomore Edwin Morales (Philadelphia, Mass.) advanced to the 2020 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships as he placed second in the 184-pound weight class on Sunday at the Division III Northeast Regional hosted by Rhode Island College.

Morales is the ninth BSU grappler to advance to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships and first since heavyweight Ricky Caruso in 2014.

The top three in each weight class at each of the six regional tournaments throughout the country get an automatic bid to the national championship tournament which will take place on Friday, March 13th and Saturday, March 14th at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

After winning both of his bouts on Saturday, the third-seeded Morales secured a trip the national championship meet with a 5-4 decision over #2 seed and defending national champion John Boyle of Western New England University in Sunday's semifinal round. Morales then dropped a 9-3 decision to top-seeded and undefeated Paul Detwiler of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in the regional championship match.

Morales will head to the national championship meet with an overall record off 29-4 (.879) including nine pins.

Sophomores Fox Maxwell (Winchester, Mass.) and Ryan Higgins (Billerica, Mass.), and senior Henry Oberlander (Mansfield, Mass.) also earned All-Northeast Region honors for the Bears.

Maxwell, who was unseeded, placed fourth in the 165-pound weight as he went 4-2 over the weekend. After dropping his opening bout to #2 seed Taylor Shay of Roger Williams University on Saturday, Maxwell won four straight matches including a 7-3 win over Ford of Rhode Island College and a 5-4 come-from-behind decision over Shay on Sunday to advance to the third-place match. Maxwell ended his tournament run with a 15-0 technical fall (5:00) setback to top-seeded Tyler Marsh of WPI.

Higgins finished in fifth place in the heavyweight bracket with a 4-2 record over the two-day tournament. On Sunday, the fourth-seeded Higgins earned a 3-2 decision over #8 Omar Eldaly of New England College before falling (0:29) to #3 Joe Fusco of Springfield College in the wrestleback semifinals. In the fifth-place match, Higgins posted a 15-6 major decision victory over #7 Jake Peavey of the University of Southern Maine.

Oberlander placed seventh competing out of the 197-pound weight class as the #5 seed as he went 3-2 over the weekend. On Sunday, Oberlander dropped a 12-4 decision to #8 Travis Arata of Roger Williams University in the wrestleback quarterfinals before posting a 9-4 win over Sam Ware of Springfield College in the seventh-place match.

Maxwell wrapped up the 2019-2020 season with an overall record of 31-18 (.633) with five pins and a school record 120 near fall points, while Higgins finished 31-7 (.816) with 16 pins and Oberlander went 27-11 (.711) with five pins.

The Bears placed 12th in the team standing at the two-day championship meet with 55.5 points.

Notes: It marks the ninth time in BSU wrestling history that the Bears have recorded four or more All-Northeast/New England performances at the regional championships. The Bears also accomplished the feat in 2000 (5), 2002 (4), 2003 (5), 2007 (6), 2008 (5), 2010 (5), 2011 (4) and 2012 (5).