OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Notre Dame grapplers garnered three national championships and nine Falcons placed, as the mat men from College Road earned NDC's first national championship in any sport with a victory at the 53rd Annual NAIA National Championships on Saturday.

Sophomore #Jeffrey Pelton# (149 pounds) and juniors #Thomas Straughn# (157), and #Derek Foore# (197) won national championships, as the fourth-year program from South Euclid, Ohio, steamrolled to a decisive team victory. 

The Falcons, ranked No. 1 in the nation (NAIA Coaches' Poll) heading into the event, won in dominant fashion. NDC scored 179.5 team points, 59.5 points more than second-place Southern Oregon (120 points). That margin of victory is the second-largest at the NAIA National Championship tournament since 1982. Great Falls (Mont.) placed third, with 118.5 points. Three-time defending champion Lindenwood (Mo.) placed seventh.

Pelton earned his title with a 7-5 decision over third-ranked (NAIA Coaches' Poll) Byron Kuylen of Great Falls (Mont.). The junior grappler went 5-0 at the tournament to remain unbeaten (24-0) on the season.

Straughn followed that up in the next bout with an 11-7 victory over eighth-ranked James Casadaban (Cumberland University-Tenn.). The Massillon, Ohio, native and now two-time All-American also went 5-0 in Oklahoma City; his final record for 2009-10 stands at 27-3.

Foore defeated No. 3 Jake Kallestad from Dickinson State (N.D.) in a 3-1 decision to close out his remarkable season. The Wadsworth, Ohio, native went 5-0 at the tournament and 27-0 with 13 pins on the season. 

“When you enter the National Championships, you never know what is going to happen,” said NDC Head Coach #Frank Romano#. “Our guys are in great shape and we wrestled really well. I thought we were competitive in all our matches and we wrestled really well on our feet. That's what wins matches, performing on your feet, and our guys worked hard and did that. I've been in wrestling for 50 years and to come out of retirement to start this program and now win a national title, it's really special. It is something that is rare and unique in collegiate athletics.”

Six more NDC grapplers placed in the tournament, which was held at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City, from Thursday through Saturday. The NAIA awards All-America recognition to top-six finishers in each weight class and honorable mentions to seventh- and eighth-place finishers, so 10 Falcon student-athletes will return to Cleveland as All-Americans.

Freshman #Orlando Scales# was among those placers - he was the national runner-up in the heavyweight division. The Falcons' top 2009 recruit lost, 4-2, in a Saturday-night title bout that went into overtime.

“What an unbelievable performance,” said Romano. “With all of the preparation that went into this, from our staff to every wrestler on the squad, to people at the College, it all makes this experience very gratifying. It's very special to be crowned as the national champs.”

The win for Notre Dame closes out a remarkable season of dominance for the Falcon program, in just its fourth season since being instituted in 2006. The Wrestling Falcons were ranked No. 2 in the NAIA Coaches' Preseason Poll (Oc. 20) and after winning the National Catholic Invitational (Erie, Pa.) on Nov. 7 and obliterating the competition by earning seven titles at the Harris Open (Ashland, Ohio) on Nov. 14, NDC was voted as the top team in NAIA wrestling in the first Coaches' Poll of the 2009-10 season, on Nov. 24. The Blue & White then retained that ranking throughout the season.

NDC's championship season isn't just a first for Notre Dame - it perhaps goes down as one of the greatest in the history of small-college wrestling. The Falcons earned a 10-1 mark in dual meets, losing only to NCAA Division I Ohio State, which is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation in DI wrestling (InterMat, Feb. 24). After that loss to the Buckeyes, which was on Nov. 22, Notre Dame rattled off nine straight wins. In those nine victories, the Blue & White decimated all challengers, winning by a combined 301-42 score.

During the 2009-10 season, NDC went 1-1 against DI foes, losing to Ohio State but beating Cleveland State in convincing fashion, 42-3. The Falcons went 4-0 against DII competition, defeating three ranked DII programs (Ashland, Findlay, West Liberty-W. Va.) along the way. Notre Dame went 2-0 against DIII schools and 3-0 against NAIA competition, with those three wins coming in collegiate wrestling's most prestigious in-season tournament, the National Duals.

NDC won the NAIA National Duals on Jan. 10 by dispatching three Top-10 NAIA teams (No. 8 Oklahoma City, No. 4 McKendree-Ill. and No. 7 Missouri Valley) by a combined score of 97-15.

“Winning the NAIA Duals and the national championship in the same year is an amazing accomplishment for our kids,” said Romano. 

“We had a great year. This program was started only three-and-a-half years ago and to ascend to the top of the NAIA in such a short amount of time…I find it so amazing. I didn't think it would happen this fast. We have a great coaching staff and have been building since we won the National Duals in January.”

Including the National Duals and NAIA National Championships, the 2009-10 Wrestling Falcons won five tournament titles. By the time they reached Oklahoma City, Notre Dame had 11 ranked athletes in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, nine of which were ranked in the Top-3 of their respective weight divisions. The starting lineup of 12 arrived at the National Championships with a combined 2009-10 record of 227-35 (.866).

In Oklahoma City, from Thursday to Saturday, those dozen grapplers won 47 more bouts. More important to them, Notre Dame College picked up win number one - its first national championship.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

STARS EARN STRIPES:  NDC's 10 All-Americans, their finishes in Oklahoma City and their final 2009-10 bout records - #Tyler Savage#, fifth at 125, 23-10, #Adam Koballa#, sixth at 141, 29-3; Jeff Pelton, national champion at 149, 24-0; #Ashtin Primus#, third at 149, 29-4; Thomas Straughn, national champion at 157, 27-3; #Jon Bittenger#, seventh at 174, 18-6; #Cody Butzer#, third at 174, 16-1; #Alex Denman#, sixth at 184, 19-10; Derek Foore, national champion at 197, 27-0; and Orlando Scales, second at HWT, 27-4. … Koballa's sixth-place finish at 141 closes out his collegiate career. The former standout at St. Peter Chanel (Bedford, Ohio) is now a three-time NAIA All-American. Koballa was national runner-up at 141 as a sophomore and national champ at the same weight a year ago as a junior. The Falcons' team captain went 60-11 in three seasons, after transferring to Notre Dame from Old Dominion (Va.).

BUSY WEEK:  John Bittenger and Ashtin Primus had busy weeks, wrestling in eight bouts at the national tournament. Primus went 7-1 in placing third at 149 pounds. The Connellsville, Pa., native won five bouts on pins, two of which came in 37 seconds. Primus finished the season with a 29-4 mark, winning 23 bouts by fall. … Bittenger went 6-2 in placing 7th at 174.

QUICK ASCENT FOR FALCONS:  In its inaugural 2006-07 season, Notre Dame placed 20th at the 2007 NAIA National Championships. The Falcons improved their place of finish to 13th in 2008 and then fifth in 2009. … In four seasons, Notre Dame has produced five individual national champions, 17 All-Americans and 56 national qualifiers.

ABOUT NDC ATHLETICS:  Notre Dame College fields 23 varsity athletic teams, the second most (Ohio State, 33) among 53 colleges and universities in the state of Ohio. NDC was founded as a women's college but has been co-ed since 2001. Eighteen of the College's 23 programs have been launched in the last decade with the College going through a period of tremendous growth and development. … Last July, the NCAA announced that Notre Dame had a membership application approved. The Falcons are currently competing as a Candidacy Year-One institution in the NCAA Division-II membership process.