Wrestling | 3/8/2019 8:11:00 PM

ROANOKE, VA – Dempsey King (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) has advanced to the national semifinals at 165 lbs., as the RIT wrestling team wrapped up day one competition on Friday, March 8 at the 2019 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Va. Both Kaidon Winters (Athens, PA/Athens Area) and Connor Calkins (Almond, NY/Alfred-Almond) will also wrestle in the consolation bracket Saturday. RIT is 12th in the team competition with 17 points.
 
On Saturday, March 9, session III starts at 10 a.m., with the championship semifinals, consolation quarterfinals, semifinals, and matches for third, fifth, and seventh place. Championship finals wrap up at 7 p.m. Saturday, with awards to follow.
 
King, the No. 7 seed at 165 lbs., rolled to a 10-4 win over Nick Remke of Coast Guard in the first round. King spotted Remke a 2-0 lead and scored the next seven points to lead 7-2 heading into the third period. King secured the win with a take down in the third period.
 
King battled No. 2 seed Taylor Shay of Roger Williams toe-to-toe in the quarterfinals. Shay took the lead with an escape in the second period, while King answered with one in the third. In the first overtime, both wresters matched each other with escapes to make it 2-2 heading into the second overtime. King would get an escape in the second overtime and maintain his position when Shay was on the bottom to hold on get the win.
 
King, who becomes RIT's 17th different All-American in program history, will take on Nicholas Bonomo of Wisconsin-Whitewater in one semifinal Saturday morning. King can finish no worse than sixth.
 
Winters, who was seeded third at 157 lbs., won his first match of the day, 5-0 over Dylan Dwyer of New York University. Winters took the early lead with a take down in the opening period and upped his lead to 4-0 with a reversal in the third period.
 
In the quarterfinals, Winters took on No. 6 seed Bradan Birt of Millikin. Winters fell behind 4-0 in the first period and eventually trailed 5-0 with under a minute left before mounting a late rally. Winters picked up a point for stalling and recorded a takedown with 20 seconds left to cut the deficit to 5-3. Winters tried to tie the match in the final seconds, but had his comeback bid fall just short, as he suffered his first loss of the season, falling to 32-1 in 2018-19.
 
Winters rallied to defeat Christopher Muce of Centenary in a consolation match later Friday evening, 3-2 in overtime. With the match tied at 1-1 in the second extra session, Muce took a 2-1 lead on an escape in the final seconds. Winters would regain the lead with a reversal in the third session and hung on, as Muce nearly earned an escape with one second left.
 
Winters, who is now 33-1 this season, will take on Keone Derain of Elmhurst College in the consolation bracket Saturday morning.
 
At 285 lbs., Calkins waged a tremendous battle with No. 4 seed Konrad Ernst of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Ernst, who came into the match undefeated on the year at 25-0, scored the first point with an escape in the second period. Calkins would match that in the third period. In the first overtime, both wrestlers would tally escapes to make 2-2 heading into the second overtime. Calkins would win the match with a takedown with 22 seconds left in the second overtime to earn the 4-2 victory.
 
In the quarterfinal match, Calkins fell to No. 5 seed Garrett Wesneski of Lycoming by pin right before the end of the opening quarter. Calkins rebounded by defeating Patrick Irwin, 2-1 in overtime in a consolation match later Friday evening to improve to 28-8 on the season. Calkins got an escape in overtime and was able to hold off Irwin for the win. Calkins will face top-seed James Bethel of Oneonta State in the next consolation match.