Dalton George Finishes 6th at Nationals

March 11, 2017

Birmingham AL – Dalton George's run at the Division II wrestling championships came to a halt on Saturday as he lost his two matches.  After advancing to the semifinals on Friday by winning both his matches, it was a tough day for the redshirt sophomore from Williamstown, WV. 

In the first match he ran into Nick Becker from Wisconsin Parkside the two time defending champion at 174 pound weight class.  Becker showed the class of a champion and really was in control of the match from the beginning and ran out to a 16-0 technical fall decision.

George mentioned that his opponent Becker knew he was hurt going into the match.  "He told me that he knew I was hurt and that I had a lot of guts to be out on the mat. I have been battling all season with a few injuries a meniscus has been troubling, along with pinch nerve.  Yesterday I hurt my meniscus in the first match as well.  I finished in sixth and was the first NCAA All-American here at Ohio Valley."  George added.  "I just could not wrestle in the 5th and 6th match I could have hurt myself more if I had."

With the loss Dalton fell to the consolation match where he unable to fight back because of injuries that had occurred the day before and was defeated by Nolan Kistler from California Baptist.  The match was over quickly as Kistler took George down and quickly turned his advantage into near fall points finishing with a technical fall 18-0 with 1:09 left in the first period.

George will finish with 35-6 record while holding the school record of 16 pins during the season.  He will have two more years to add to his accomplishments and he can't wait to get healthy and get ready for the start of next year of his wrestling career. Print Friendly Version

Birmingham AL – Fighting Scot Redshirt Sophomore Dalton George (Williamstown, WV) won his first round match at the Division II wrestling championships on Friday afternoon.  He used riding time that he accrued during the second period after his opponent Huston Evans choose down to start the period.  He would get around a minute and a half of the riding time advantage to win 2-1 score.

After a non-scoring period in the first where both wrestlers were tentative with their shots and basically trying to get a grip on each other.  The action was mainly contested with in the center of the mat with each wrestler having one chance to take down the other without any points being scored.

When Evans escaped late in the second after George had controlled him in the mat for the vast majority of the period.  The Newberry wrestler would take a 1-0 lead into the final period.

George then took down on his choice and quickly escaped to keep his riding time advantage at 1:23.  The escape would even the score at 1-1.

The biggest moment of the match came with under 30 seconds remaining in the match as Evans took advantage of a small opening and had a chance to take George down for two points. However, the referees called the wrestlers out and Evans was not awarded the two points. The Newberry coaching staff appealed and asked for a video replay, however the call on the mat was confirmed.  With the confirmation of the call George advanced to the second round.

Dalton will take on Chance Helmick from Chadron St. in the next round who defeated his opponent, Clayton Jennisen, from St. Cloud St 3-2.  The next round is slated to start approximately 7 PM eastern time tonight.

Birmingham AL – Making it harder on yourself is not necessarily something that wrestlers think about while they are wrestling.  The Fighting Scots' Dalton George made it a little harder on himself in the quarter final round of the Division II national championships.  However, he still advanced to the semi-final round with an 8-7 win over Chance Helmick from Chadron State.  

Dalton now 34-4 on the season, took the lead within the first minute as he shot on Helmick and took him down and gained two near fall points.  Helmick would later escape in the same period to take the score to 4-1 going into the second period.

The second period started much the way the first did George would score his final four points before his opponent would rally.  Helmick took advantage of a missed shot opportunity by George and would turn it around for a take down and two near fall points near the side of the mat.  George took advantage and moved to the side of the mat and the referees brought them back to the center for an 8-6 lead for George.

The third period was a standoff as both wrestlers looked for chances but none of the attempts came to any for points for either wrestler.  George was eventually warned for stalling twice and one point was awarded to Helmick to make the final score 8-7.  With the win George's is now an All-American at the Division II level.

In the semi-finals he will face Nick Becker from Wisconsin Parkside who is now 25-0 as he defeated Nick Foster from McKendree by a 4-1 decision.  The semis will resume at noon eastern time tomorrow and you can follow the action at:

2017 NCAA Division II Championships Results for Ohio Valley
174 - Dalton George (35-7) placed 6th and scored 8.00 team points.
    Champ. Round 1 - Dalton George (Ohio Valley) 35-7 won by decision over Huston Evans (Newberry) 21-9 (Dec 2-1)
    Quarterfinal - Dalton George (Ohio Valley) 35-7 won by decision over Chance Helmick (Chadron State) 32-6 (Dec 8-7)
    Semifinal - Nick Becker (Wis.-Parkside) 25-0 won by tech fall over Dalton George (Ohio Valley) 35-7 (TF-1.5 7:00 (16-1))
    Cons. Semi - Nolan Kistler (California Baptist) 26-11 won by tech fall over Dalton George (Ohio Valley) 35-7 (TF-1.5 1:52 (18-0))
    5th Place Match - Cody Carson (Central Mo.) 28-9 won by medical forfeit over Dalton George (Ohio Valley) 35-7 (M. For.)

Team Scores

1. Notre Dame (OH) 103.5
2. St. Cloud St. 67.0
3. California Baptist 56.5
4. Neb.-Kearney 55.5
5. McKendree 47.5
6. Ashland 46.0
7. Maryville (MO) 42.0
8. Findlay 35.0
9. Tiffin 34.5
10. Mercyhurst 33.0
11. Augustana (SD) 31.0
12. Fort Hays St. 29.5
13. Gannon 28.5
14. Limestone 28.0
14. Minnesota St. 28.0

16. Kutztown 26.5
17. Pitt.-Johnstown 25.5
18. Central Okla. 23.5
18. Wis.-Parkside 23.5
20. UIndy 22.5
21. King (TN) 22.0
22. Colorado St.-Pueblo 21.0
23. MSU Moorhead 17.0
23. Upper Iowa 17.0
25. UNC Pembroke 15.0
26. Newberry 14.0
26. Wheeling Jesuit 14.0
28. Lake Erie 12.5
28. Simon Fraser 12.5
30. Colorado Mesa 12.0

31. Central Mo. 10.5
31. Seton Hill 10.5
33. Shippensburg 10.0
34. Newman 8.5
35. Ohio Valley 8.0
36. LIU Post 7.5
36. Northern St. 7.5
38. Adams St. 6.5
39. Western St. 4.5
40. Colorado Mines 4.0
41. Chadron State 1.0
42. East Stroudsburg 0.0
42. Lindenwood (MO) 0.0
42. Shorter 0.0


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