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West Liberty wrestler becomes national champ

PARK CITY, Kan. — The No. 4 West Liberty University wrestling team closed out the 2023-24 season with a 13th place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships as they totaled 32 points with two All-Americans, including one national champion.

Ty McGeary spent the entirety of the year with the No. 1 ranking, and he completed the perfect 33-0 season with his second consecutive title in the 184-pound weight class. He becomes just the second wrestler in program history to win multiple national championships in their career as a Hilltopper.

In the semifinals McGeary defeated No. 5 Reece Woracheck of Wisconsin-Parkside in a 5-3 decision. He then defended his title and went back-to-back as he recorded a 9-1 major decision over Matt Weinberg of Kutztown.

In the title bout McGeary scored a takedown in the closing seconds of the first period and then held the 3-0 lead as he rode out Weinberg the entire two minutes of the second.

He scored on an escape 15 seconds into the third and picked up a penalty point for stalling. With just under a minute to go in the third he notched his second takedown of the match. Weinberg’s lone point came via a stall call, but McGeary sealed the major decision with the ride time point to make it 9-1.

Khyvon Grace wrapped up his first career national tournament appearance with a seventh-place finish in the 141-pound bracket and a 3-2 record on the weekend. He started the day in consolation round three with his second overtime bout in the last two days, falling in tiebreaker-1 by a score of 2-1 by ride time to Angel Flores of Adams State. He ended his season with a win by medical forfeit in the seventh-place bout over No. 2 Hunter Burnett of Augustana.

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