UW-Parkside team advanced seven wrestlers to the NCAA Division II National Championships at Sunday’s Super 2 Regional Tournament in Warrensburg, Mo.

Parkside, ranked fourth in the latest NCAA Division II poll, finished second with 138 points at the nine-team meet. Top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha, which is sending all 10 of its wrestlers to Nationals, won the meet with 166 points.

Parkside’s Jim Koch was named Super Regional 2 Head Coach of the Year after the meet.

“It was a great day for us,” Koch said. “We are happy with how things went for us.”

Advancing to the March 12-13 Nationals in Omaha as regional champions for UWP were 125-pounder Cody Zimmerman; Craig Becker, 149; Dillon Bera, 157; Luke Rynish, 174; and Luke Haag, 174.

Also qualifying were Matthew Gille (40-9), who was third at 165 and Jon Treml (28-15), who was third at 197.

Zimmerman improved to 31-5 with victories of 3-1 and 3-2 over Indianapolis’ Alex Johns in overtime for the 125 title.

Becker, ranked No. 1 at 149, won his first match 11-7 and pinned his second opponent in 5:37 before defeating Nebraska-Omaha’s Esai Dominguez 12-7 for the title. He is 34-2.

“Being ranked No. 1 automatically makes him the favorite at the National tournament but he is really wrestling well,” Koch said. “He’s had a great career for us. We just want to get one more tournament out of him.”

Bera defeated No. 1 seed George Ivanov of Nebraska-Omaha 7-6 to claim the 157 crown and move to 29-10.

Rynish (35-10) upended top-seeded Aaron Denson of UNO 6-5 for the 174 title and Haag (43-9) handled Findlay’s Jeff Havelika 5-0 for the 184 championship.

By David Marran