FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DAN deLALLA BECOMES FIRST WESLEYAN WRESTLER TO ATTEND NCAAs IN FIVE YEARS

 

     Injuring his left elbow during the preseason, team co-captain Dan deLalla '07 sat out the entire regular season of the 2005-06 wrestling campaign but continued to train and practice on his own throughout the winter. Feeling ready for the New England College Conference Wrestling Association (NECCWA) Championships hosted by Wesleyan Sat. and Sun., Feb. 18 and 19, deLalla hit the mat on day one and went 3-0 to reach the winner's bracket final at 157 pounds and assure himself no worse than third place of the 14 competitors in the division. The second day, deLalla, who had beaten the number two and number three seeds the day before, knocked off top-seeded Jake Tyler of Springfield, 3-2, to reach the finals. There he fell behind Tyler, who had earned the right to face deLalla again, and eventually lost by pin in the third period. With a rule recently instituted by the NECCWA making wrestlers face each other a third time to decide a champion if they each won a match in two previous meetings, deLalla and Tyler squared off again for the title. They were tied 1-1 after regulation and entered a one-minute sudden-victory period. Twenty seconds into the extra frame, deLalla secured hold of Tyler's leg, holding on long enough to pull him in and get control of both legs for a decisive takedown. deLalla became Wesleyan first NCAA qualifier since Brian Fair '01 captured the 149-pound title in 2001. At the NCAA Division III Championships March 3 & 4 hosted by the College of New Jersey, deLalla drew third-seeded Robert Gingerrich of North Central in the first round, losing 13-7. He then faced Ryan Herwig of Delaware Valley in the consolations and lost on a first-period pin.

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