ST. LOUIS, Mo.– Drury's
Peter Kuster had the best finish at the NCAA-II national championship in program history as the junior from Jefferson City came in seventh in the 141-pound weight class on Saturday at Chaiftez Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.
Kuster went 2-1 on Friday to extend his national tournament run into the second day of the competition. In his first match on Saturday, he was edged by Nick James from Nebraska-Kearney in a 3-1 decision that sent Kuster to the seventh-place match.
In the battle for seventh, Kuster pinned John Carayiannis to win by Fall in 2:16.
With his top-eight finish, Kuster is Drury's second All-American in team history.
Jared Rennick came in eighth last year in the heavyweight class.
"I'm really proud of the year Peter had," said Drury head coach
James Reynolds, who completed his sixth season as the Panthers head coach. "The most impressive thing is that he is someone that will always step out and wrestle his heart out. He's critical of himself, and that makes him easy to coach. But he came in here with a really good mindset and did really well."
Kuster qualified for his third national tournament appearance this year and ended his season with a 27-10 record.
"Peter has one more season left, and I think he is going to come back hungry," added Reynolds. "He works hard and I know he will be looking to return and do even better next year."
The Panthers have sent at least one wrestler to the NCAA-II national championship tournament for four-straight seasons.
FRIDAY
Champ. Round 1 -
Peter Kuster (Drury) 27-10 won by decision over Caleb Morris (Pitt-Johnstown) 16-7 (Dec 5-3)
Quarterfinal - Branson Proudlock (Findlay) 30-1 won by decision over
Peter Kuster (Drury) 27-10 (Dec 5-2)
Cons. Round 2 -
Peter Kuster (Drury) 27-10 won by decision over Keaten Schorr (Augustana) 8-8 (Dec 4-2)
SATURDAY
Cons. Round 3 - Nick James (Nebraska-Kearney) 23-10 won by decision over
Peter Kuster (Drury) 27-10 (Dec 3-1)
7th Place Match -
Peter Kuster (Drury) 27-10 won by fall over John Carayiannis (Belmont Abbey) 14-9 (Fall 2:16)
#MoreThanChampions
