Eads Wins Twice, Falls Short of All-America Status

Park City, Kan.–Joe Eads (Sr., Morrison, Ill., Biology) closed out his collegiate career with a strong showing, but came up just shy of once again being an All-American as he competed at the NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship Friday.

The 149-pounder, who entered as the #12 seed, won twice, but also lost twice in being eliminated in Session #2. His efforts netted WPU 3.5 points which is 40th overall. This coming a year after finishing seventh for his first All-America honor.

Eads opened the day with a nail-biting victory over Jovon Mitchell of Missouri Valley, winning 5-2 in the first tiebreaker. After being tied 1-1 through the three regulation periods and overtime, he was on top for the first tiebreaker 30-second period and rode Mitchell out. Eads also put Mitchell to his back for a four-point near-fall. Mitchell was then on top and while staying in control, he only collected one penalty point, giving Eads the win.

The senior unfortunately could not come up with the upset in the second round, falling 5-0 to #5 seed Denver Stonecheck of Life (Ga.). Relegated to the consolation bracket for the remainder of the tournament, Eads stayed alive by pinning un-seeded Alejando Mas of Central Baptist (Ark.) in a time of 3:30.

Sitting two wins from being an All-American, Eads, unfortunately, took on his highest-ranked foe in third-seeded Trevor Anderson of Grand View. The upset would not come, though, as Eads was shut out 3-0 to be eliminated.

After the first of two days at the Championship, Grand View tops the standings with 98 points, while Life is a close second with 95.5 points.