Pitt-Johnstown's Ealy, Smith each finish in 5th place at NCAA tournament
Mar. 12—Pat Pecora's suit was pressed and ready to go in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Sadly for the Pitt-Johnstown coach and his Mountain Cats, the outfit — which was packed in preparation for the final round of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships — was not needed.
Jacob Ealy, the top seed at 149 pounds, and Nate Smith, the sixth seed at 157, each dropped back-to-back matches on Saturday before rebounding to place fifth in their respective weights.
Ealy entered the tournament with an unbeaten record and holding regular-season wins over the second- and third-seeded wrestlers. He never got a chance to face either of them.
Fifth-seeded Jason Hanenberg of Western Colorado beat Ealy 7-1 in the semifinal round on Saturday.
"He was a stud. He is as tough as nails," Pecora said of Hanenberg.
Northern State's Wyatt Turnquist then beat Ealy 8-4, sending the Mountain Cat to the fifth-place match, where he knocked off Central Oklahoma's Brik Filippo 9-6.
Ealy earned All-American honors for the third time in his career.
"Jake Ealy, he had a fantastic season," Pecora said. "It's that title that eluded him again. He's a junior. He'll have another year. I couldn't ask more from him."
Smith lost 9-2 to St. Cloud State's Nick Novak in the semifinals, then fell 9-3 to 2022 NCAA champ Noah Hermosillo of Adams State in the consolations. Smith beat King's Trent Mahoney 5-2 in this final college bout.
It was the second All-American finish for Smith, who never qualified for the state tournament wrestling at Franklin Regional High School.
"We're pleased with Nate," Pecora said. "Nate had a fantastic career for us. I'm going to miss him. I had coaches coming up to me at this tournament and saying, 'That 157-pounder is the nicest I've ever met!' "
Ealy and Smith were the only All-Americans for Pitt-Johnstown, which qualified eight wrestlers for the NCAA tournament. The Mountain Cats were tied for 16th place prior to Saturday night's championship round. It was a difficult ending for a team that went 15-0 and finished second in Off the Mat's dual meet rankings. Pitt-Johnstown won the PSAC dual meet title and the Super Region I championship, but Pecora knew that while his squad had a top-20 wrestler at almost every weight class, it was thin on the kind of top-end talent required to win a national team title.
"This was something I kind of feared all year. I knew our team was a good, solid dual meet team," Pecora said. "I don't know what we could have done differently or better. I don't feel like we choked or something. The matches that we lost were just good, tough wrestlers."
Pecora, who just completed his 47th season as Pitt-Johnstown's head coach, remarked repeatedly over the weekend how this was the deepest Division II tournament that he's seen. It also didn't help that four of his unseeded wrestlers drew first-round matchups against an opponent seeded in the top four of their respective weight classes.
"It's tough to get mad at this team," Pecora said. "They're good kids. They put the time in. They go to school, get good grades. I couldn't be prouder of the guys — the time and effort that they put in. I know people were counting on us to do a little better out here. It just didn't work out."
