Wrestling | 3/31/2020 5:21:00 PM
The 2019-20 Southeastern University wrestling started and finished with the program's best rankings at those two points, but there's much more to the story than that.
In
Brandon Jorge's first season as the head coach, the Fire recorded their highest preseason, in-season, and postseason NAIA rankings, the first top-ranked wrestler, most national qualifiers, and most dual meet victories in program history.
Again, there's much more to the story than that.
Southeastern entered its annual Fire Duals tournament ranked seventh nationally and sporting a 6-0 record, and played host to three of the Top 20 programs in the NAIA. The Fire scored just 21 points in the three matches, and lost two-time All-American and top-ranked
Ethan Owen for the season.
The Fire dropped out of the Top 10, and easily could have folded up camp for the season, but the team bounced back with an excellent showing in the second half of the season.
"I am most proud of how hard this team worked towards our goals," said Jorge of his maiden voyage as head coach. "Even through all the ups and downs of the season, through all the injuries, and through all the big wins we had - we stayed focused and worked hard.
"We broke a number of program records this year, but most importantly we had our highest ever team GPA in the fall semester."
In the tournament following the Fire Duals, Southeastern went 4-0 at the Cascade Duals in Arizona, which featured a pair of Top 15 victories and was highlighted by
Dylan Chatterton's convincing win over then-No. 1 Casey Dobson of Providence (Mont.).
Southeastern also placed at the NWCA Team Duals for the second consecutive season, bringing the eighth-place trophy home from Freedom Hall in Louisville. The Fire picked up a win over No. 5 Oklahoma City, and had some key individual victories against highly ranked wrestlers.
The following weekend, the Fire took third-ranked Life to criteria, battling back from a 6-0 deficit with
Jaquan English turning the tide at 141 with a win over No. 5 Julian Hernandez to get SEU on the board.
Coleman Bryant moved up a weight class and scored a 4-2 decision in the first tiebreaker to tie the match at 12, and
Alton Meeks closed the match with a 4-0 victory over No. 5 Andre Bissainthe to tie the match at 15 and send it to criteria.
By three individual match points, Life escaped with the win.
The Fire closed the regular season hot, winning their last five duals to accumulate 17 dual meet victories, crushing the previous record of 12.
At the national qualifier, Southeastern had 10 of their 12 wrestlers earn trips to Wichita for the National Championships. Redshirt senior
Olson Delisca placed second and became the program's first four-time national qualifier. Redshirt junior
Dylan Chatterton became a three-time qualifier, and junior
Kyle Kirkham and redshirt senior
Jaaziel Santana became two-time qualifiers.
Six wrestlers, five with eligibility remaining, became first-time national qualifiers.
The blend of postseason experience and success in the SEU wrestling room paid dividends as first time qualifiers
Isaac Crowell at 125,
Jalen Soto at 149, and Bryant at 174 won their first matches, scoring upsets along the way, to reach the quarterfinals.
Crowell picked up a 4-3 win over the No. 2 seed in the bracket, Soto beat the No. 11 seed, then pinned the No. 6 seed, and Bryant pinned the No. 6 seed.
Chatterton got to the second session with a pair of comeback victories, scoring a first period pin in his first match when he was down four, and a second period pin when he was down by 10.
The second session wasn't as kind—with nine wrestlers still in play, Southeastern had two reach the podium and All-American status.
Dealing with a laundry list of injuries, Chatterton scored a first period pin and a 7-3 decision to secure a top eight finish at 157, earning his second All-America placement.
"I battled through a lot of adversity again," said Chatterton. "I've had to overcome an early loss, a banged up shoulder, and a knee injury to get back on the podium. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was possible at the beginning of the session, but God gave me the strength to do it, and it's a good feeling to be back on the podium."
Bryant became just the second true freshman All-American in program history, bouncing back from a loss in the quarters to pick up a 3-2 win to advance to the placement matches.
Chatterton placed fifth, going 2-1 during the third session picking up another first period pin to secure the tournament's Gorriarian Award, which is given to the wrestler that accumulates the most pins in the least time. The York, Pa.-native had four pins in 6:35.
Bryant placed seventh, scoring an escape with 41 seconds left in regulation, then got a takedown to win just 25 seconds into sudden victory.
"It was nice to grit it out and get the overtime win since we practice it every day," said Bryant. "Even after I lost, I knew that if I trusted my preparation, trusted my offense, and trusted my coaches it would get me the win."
As a team, the Fire were ninth at the championships, earning their first Top 10 placement, and highest since finishing 11
th in 2018.
The season also marked the last go-around for Delisca, Owen, and Santana who were part of the first season of wrestling at Southeastern. That group got to be part of history, helping welcome college wrestling back to Florida for the first time in 30 years.
Owen and Delisca were the first national qualifiers and first All-Americans in program history, helping grow the program from its infancy to the contender that it is today.
"At the end of the day, we are not where we are at without those three," said Jorge. "They are really the guys that built this team and have seen it through from the beginning, have been through it all and stuck it out. They've set the bar for this program moving forward."
The three fifth-year wrestlers helped the Fire accumulate over 220 individual victories during their time with the program.
"Those are three guys that cannot be replaced, and it's hard to find guys like them," said Jorge. "Their impact will forever be felt at Southeastern University."
