UWSP’s Vosters finishes as National Runner-up
Portage County Gazette
By John Kemmeter
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) senior Ben Vosters closed out his college wrestling career by advancing to the National Championship Match at 133 pounds, where his late rally came up short to finish second.
A Hatley native and former Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School standout, seventh-ranked Vosters went 3-0 to move on to the finals of the NCAA Division III National Championships at Roanoke, Va., Saturday, March 9, where he dropped a 9-7 decision to top-ranked sophomore Jordin James of Mount Union (41-1).
Vosters entered the National Championships with a 26-3 record, after he finished second at 133 at the Upper Midwest Regional in Eau Claire Feb. 23, to earn his first trip to Nationals.
At the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Vosters opened with an 11-1 major-decision victory over Chase Petty of Central (Iowa) Friday, March 8, to advance to the National Quarterfinals against second-ranked Sam Bennyhoff of Augsburg (Minn.), who beat Vosters by a 9-0 major decision in the finals of the Upper Midwest Regional two weeks earlier.
With a trip to the National Semifinals on the line Friday, Vosters fell behind Bennyhoff 6-1 late in the second period, when he got a takedown with 26 seconds left and four nearfall points with 17 seconds to go in the period to take a 7-6 lead, and went on to a 13-6 win.
That earned Vosters All-American honors and sent him to the National Semifinals to take on sixth-ranked Charles Nash of Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) Saturday, where Vosters led 4-1 heading into the third period, and closed out a 7-6 victory to advance to the National Championship Match.
There, James scored a takedown 13 seconds into the match, and after a Vosters escape at 1:19 of the first period made it 2-1, James had a takedown with five seconds left in the period to go up 4-1.
It stayed that way into the third period, when Vosters pulled to within 7-4 on an escape with 59 seconds remaining, then was awarded a takedown with 17 seconds left after video review, before he allowed an escape to make it 8-6, as he tried to go for a takedown to tie it.
James was penalized for stalling with 10 seconds to go to bring Vosters within 8-7, while Vosters’ final attempt at a takedown was waved off on video review, and James received a point for riding time to provide the final margin in his 9-7 win, as Vosters ended this season with a 29-4 record and a National Runner-up finish.