Parkside Wrestling will be sending three student-athletes to the NCAA II National Championships after the Rangers finished up the NCAA II Super Region V Championships Saturday night in Sioux Falls, S.D. Junior Joe Arroyo, redshirt-senior Airk Furseth and redshirt-sophomore Shane Gantz all earned a trip back to Sioux Falls, S.D. on March 13-14.
 
HEAR FROM COACH VANGROLL
"I am really proud of all 10 guys and the fight they brought today, but especially to our three qualifiers," third year head coach Corey VanGroll said. "We are looking forward to Nationals in two weeks."
 
NATIONALS BOUND
Arroyo will be making his first-career trip to nationals after he won the 125-pound bracket, making him the first Regional Champion since Furseth, Frank Yattoni IV and Nick Becker all won their weight class in 2018.
 
Arroyo went 3-0 on Saturday after starting with a first-round bye. He earned a 9-2 decision over Upper Iowa's Jared Hensley, followed that with an 8-1 decision over Ethan Cota of Augustana and won the championship with a major decision over No. 8 Dean Arevalo of Minot State.
 
No. 6 ranked Furseth will be making his third trip to nationals after he took third in the 133-pound bracket. After starting 2-0, Furseth dropped a technical fall against No. 2 Justin Folley of Upper Iowa and followed that with a 13-4 decision and a 7-3 decision in the third-place match over No. 11 Jack Huffman of Augustana.
 
No. 12 ranked Gantz will be making his first-career trip to nationals after he took second in the 165-pound bracket. After a first-round bye, Gantz earned a 6-0 decision in the quarterfinals and a 5-4 decision in the semifinals. In the championship match, Gantz lost a 10-4 decision to No. 3 Devin Fitzpatrick of St. Cloud State.
 
THE REST OF THE SQUAD
Redshirt-senior Pernevlon Sheppard narrowly missed his fourth career trip to nationals, as he fell in the third-place match to No. 10 Louie Sanders of Minnesota State. Redshirt-junior Nathan Hensley and junior Rodsean Graham each finished in sixth place
 
TEAM RESULTS
Parkside finished in fifth place with 73 team points while St. Cloud State, the top-ranked team in the nation, won the NCAA II Super Region V Championship with 155 team points. No. 8 Upper Iowa took second (125.5), Augustana third (96.5) and No. 18 Minnesota State fourth (93). Augustana and Parkside were both receiving votes in the latest NWCA Top-25 poll.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Arroyo, Furseth and Gantz will all prep for nationals, set to take place on March 13 & 14 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Rangers will graduate Furseth, Sheppard and Tanner Anthony.