Lehigh’s Wood places third at NCAAs
2016 Boyertown grad achieves 100th win, highest finish of college career
Lehigh senior heavyweight Jordan Wood wrapped up his collegiate career with a third place finish at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Saturday.
Wood, a 2016 Boyertown graduate, won an 8-7 match in the consolation semifinals and then was awarded a win by medical forfeit in the third-place match. The two victories Saturday elevated Wood to 100 wins for his career, the 17th Lehigh wrestler to achieve the milestone.
It was the three-time All-American’s highest finish at NCAAs.
“It was my best season,” Wood said. “I am (27) and 3, best year I’ve had, got my 100th win, finished third, I couldn’t be happier.”
The No. 6 seed at 285, Wood won an 8-7 decision over Northwestern’s ninth-seeded Lucas Davison in the consolation semifinals. Wood gave up the first takedown in the first period but came back with one of his own to tie the match 3-3 after one period. He picked up a second takedown in the second period and found himself tied 5-5 following a pair of Davison escapes. In the third, Wood escaped and picked up a third takedown off a Davison shot to go up 8-5, eventually holding on for the one point decision.
Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet, the No. 4 seed, medically forfeited the third place bout, giving Wood his 100th win.
“Every match I gave it 100 percent effort so I was ready for any outcome,” Wood said. “Whatever happened the weekend, I was going to wrestle as hard as I could.”
Wood reached the semifinals with a 3-1 win in sudden victory over No. 3 seed Tony Cassioppi of Iowa Friday afternoon.
Regulation was not enough in his semifinal match with Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz either.
Wood lost 5-3 in the tiebreaker period in the semifinals. Tied 1-1 through regulation, Wood escaped to take a 2-1 lead in the first half of the tiebreaker. In the second half, Schultz took a 3-2 lead on a reversal before Wood escaped to tie it. Wood – behind on riding time – then lifted Schultz and dropped him to the mat, but Schultz was able to counter for a takedown to win it.
Wood went 27-3 in his senior season and finishes his career with a 100-23 record. He is the first five-time EIWA champion and finishes as a three-time All-American, finishing fourth in 2019, earning second team honors in 2020 and third in 2022.
Wood becomes the 21st Lehigh wrestler to earn three or more All-America medals.
The sixth-year senior reflected on the impact of his time as a Mountain Hawk.
“The team aspect, the brotherhood, it’s going to be tough moving on from that,” he said. “It’s been such a gigantic part of my life and I wouldn’t change anything about it . ... It’s a family and they care about me and I care about them. It’s been incredible.”
At Boyertown, Wood was a onetime state champion and threetime finalist – injury derailed his postseason as a senior – who had a 149-5 career mark.
Exeter grad Austin DeSanto, a redshirt senior at Iowa and the fifth seed at 133 pounds, defeated seventh-seeded Austin Byrd of Illinois 10-6 in the consolation semifinals, then had two first-period takedowns on his way to a 7-4 win over thirdseeded Michael McGee of Arizona State in the third-place match.
He finished third at 133 pounds for the second straight year and became the 23rd four-time All-American in Iowa history.
He earned his 100th career collegiate victory in the quarterfinals and finished with a 102-23 record, including 73-16 at Iowa and 21-4 this season. He wrestled at Drexel in 2017-18.