TOPEKA, Kan. — After a long hard fought battle to the championship bout, Davion Caston came up just short in repeating as the NAIA National Champion at 133 pounds, finishing as runner-up.
Top-seeded Jacob Colon from Grand View University won the national title after placing fourth in last year's event.
Campbellsville, which was making its 11th trip to the big dance, finished in fifth place with 66.5 points. The Tigers finish only nine points behind Missouri Valley's mark of 75.5.
Grand View – which is in just its eighth year as a program – is on its way to an unprecedented fifth straight national title with 210 points. The Vikings are the only program in NAIA history to accomplish the feat and the fifth program in collegiate wrestling history (NAIA, NJCAA, NCAA) to win five-or-more consecutive championships.
Colon was one of eight Vikings to make it to the NAIA Championship title match.
Montana State-Northern finished runner-up with 104 points, while Indiana Tech placed third with 80.5 points.
Colon, a junior from Clear Lake, Iowa, started the match with a two-point take down and took a 2-0 lead over Caston to end the first period.
To start the second, Colon scored a one-point escape and he went on to record two more points for a takedown and then another two-point reversal. At the end of the second period the reigning NAIA champ was trailing 7-0.
Colon led 8-0 at the beginning of the third after a stalling point was rewarded. The match ended with Caston falling 10-0 to the No. 1-ranked grappler.
Colon pinned his way into the championship title match. In the quarterfinals, Colon pinned ninth-seed Ethan Owen from Southeastern in 2:35. Then in the semifinal he solidified his title bout by making fourth-seed Travis Barroquill from Indiana Tech fall in 2:03.
Caston, the senior from Sandusky, Ohio, won by a 6-4 decision over No. 6 David Berg of Midland in the quarterfinals. Then in the semifinals Saturday morning, Caston defeated No. 2 Godwin Culter of Grand View by a 4-3 decision. Â
