Gardner Finishes All-American Season

HERSHEY, Pa. (3/14/15)—Concordia senior Sebastian Gardner finished off his 2015 NCAA National Meet by placing sixth at 174. The sixth-place finish earns Gardner All-American honors.

Gardner becomes the 13th Cobber All-American in the past six years. He becomes the 25th overall NCAA All-American for the program.

Gardner started his second day of the national meet by taking on No.1-seeded Conner Lefever of Wabash in the semifinals. Gardner gave up two takedowns in the first minute of the opening period and trailed 4-1 early in the match. He was losing 10-5 late in the match and was able to get Lefever on a takedown and almost had him on his back but at the last second Lefever was able turn over and get out of a potential pin fall situation.

Gardner ended up losing 10-5 in the semifinal match which sent him into the consolation semifinals.

Gardner then had to face the No.2 seed Josh Thomson of Messiah in the consolation semifinals. Gardner got any early takedown of Thomson and then was taken down by Thomson and the score was tied 3-3 after one period.

The consolation semifinal may have been decided in the final seconds of the second period. Gardner was on the bottom and came up with a huge reversal to take a 5-4 lead. Thomson was able to get the escape and then earned a huge takedown in the final seconds of the period to grab a 7-5 lead after the second period.

Gardner got a takedown midway through the third to tie the score at 7-7 but then allowed an escape to try for another 2-point takedown but couldn't come up with the match winner and lost 8-7.

The one-point loss meant Gardner would wrestle in the 5th/6th place match in the medal round.

Gardner's final match of his Cobber career was against Tory Cain of RIT. Cain had the first takedown of the match and stayed on top until the last seconds of the opening period. Gardner appeared to have gained a reversal as time expired in the period but after a video review it was deemed that he had only come up with an escape and he trailed 2-1 heading into the second period.

Both wrestlers earned escapes at the start of the second and third periods. Gardner trailed 3-2 with time ticking down in the final period of his college career. He then made one final shot at a takedown. Gardner got hold of Cain's leg and turned him for an apparent takedown. Cain quickly slid out of bounds and the referees never gave the two points to Gardner.

Concordia head coach Matt Nagel then appealed the call and sent it to a video review. As with the first-period review, the final call went against Gardner and he was forced to try a desperation shot with less than 15-seconds remaining in the match. He tried for the takedown but got caught, gave up a takedown and wound up losing 5-2.

Gardner finishes the season with a 25-10 record. He was 52-24 in his final two seasons and earned 81 wins over his four-year career.

Final Team Standings After Session 3
1. Augsburg - 100.0
2. Wartburg - 89.5
3. Wabash - 66.5
4. Wisconsin-Whitewater - 60.5
5. Delaware Valley - 58.5
6. Messiah - 48.0
7. Coe - 40.5
8. Wisconsin-La Crosse - 40.0
9. Luther - 39.5
10. Williams College - 33.0
11. Wilkes - 32.5
12. New York University - 31.0
13. SUNY-Cortland - 28.0
14. Rochester Institute Of Technology - 26.0
15. Loras - 25.5
16. Ithaca - 25.0
17. The College Of New Jersey - 24.5
18. Hunter - 24.0
19. Washington And Jefferson College - 21.0
20. Baldwin Wallace - 20.5
21. Lycoming - 18.5
22. Rhode Island College - 18.0
23. Wheaton College (Illinois) - 17.0
T24. Ursinus - 16.0
T24. Waynesburg - 16.0
26. Oneonta State - 15.5
27. Concordia-Moorhead - 14.0

Concordia Individual Results

125 - Jakob Stageberg (27-13)
Champ. Round 1 - Guesseppe Rea (Wilkes) 35-2 won by decision over Jakob Stageberg (Dec 6-2)
Cons. Round 1 - Jakob Stageberg decision over Asher Kramer (Brockport State) 23-9 (Dec 4-3)
Cons. Round 2 - Paul Bewak (Johns Hopkins) 35-4 won by decision over Jakob Stageberg (Dec 4-3)

133 - Gabe Foltz (14-13)
Champ. Round 1 - Connor Campo (Wartburg) 27-5 major decision over Gabe Foltz (MD 9-1)
Cons. Round 1 - Jacob Spearman (Wash. And Jeff.) 28-8 decision over Gabe Foltz (Dec 11-5)

141 - Jacoby Bergeron (37-8)
Prelim - Jacoby Bergeron won by fall over Adrian Berry (SUNY-Cortland) 24-15 (Fall 7:26)
Champ. Round 1 - Jacoby Bergeron decision over Bryant Roby (Mount Union) 28-13 (TB-1 2-1)
Quarterfinal - Nick Steger (Loras) 27-1 won by decision over Jacoby Bergeron (Dec 2-1)
Cons. Round 2 - Layten Binion (North Central (IL)) 15-4 dec. over Jacoby Bergeron (SV-1 9-7)

149 - Jake Kostik (15-15)
Champ. Round 1 - Brad Mayville (RIT) 30-5 major decision over Jake Kostik (MD 13-3)
Cons. Round 1 - Jake Kostik won by decision over Daniel Del Gallo (S.Maine) 36-5 (Dec 9-8)
Cons. Round 2 - Elroy Perkin (UW-Whitewater) 8-2 tech fall over Jake Kostik (TF-1.5 6:02 (18-2))

157 - Ben Cousins (19-22)
Champ. Round 1 - Richie Jasinski (Ursinus) 28-4 won by decision over Ben Cousins (Dec 4-0)
Cons. Round 1 - Antonio Mancella (TCNJ) 27-10 won by decision over Ben Cousins (Dec 10-7)

165 - Jake Krogstad (22-10)
Champ. Round 1 - Jake Krogstad 22-10 decision over Francisco Colom (Roger Williams) (Dec 4-2)
Quarterfinal - Tyler Schneider (UW-La Crosse) 22-5 decision over Jake Krogstad 22-10 (Dec 7-0)
Cons. Round 2 - Ethan Farmer (Wabash) 16-4 won by decision over Jake Krogstad (Dec 10-8)

Sebastian Gardner (25-10) placed 6th and scored 8.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Sebastian Gardner dec. over Brandon Welter (Wartburg) 21-9 (TB-1 2-1)
Quarterfinal - Sebastian Gardner dec. over Joshua Sibblies (Centenary (NJ)) 30-10 (TB-2 3-2)
Semifinal - Conner Lefever (Wabash) 19-1 decision over Sebastian Gardner 25-10 (Dec 10-5)
Cons. Semi - Josh Thomson (Messiah) 45-6 won by decision over Sebastian Gardner (Dec 8-7)
5th Place Match - Tory Cain (RIT) 32-7 won by decision over Sebastian Gardner (Dec 5-2)

197 - Danny Pike (11-12)
Champ. Round 1 - Eric Twohey (UW-La Crosse) 33-1 tech fall Danny Pike (TF-1.5 6:33 (17-2))
Cons. Round 1 - Todd Gaydosh (John Carroll) 25-9 decision over Danny Pike (Dec 11-9)

285 - Justice Davis (24-12)
Champ. Round 1 - Cody Lovejoy (Ohio Northern) 5-1 won by fall over Justice Davis (Fall 6:50)
Cons. Round 1 - Cole Tristram (Brockport State) 30-9 inj. default over Justice Davis (Inj. 4:50)