Two Reivers Win National Titles

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - The Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs and Iowa Western Community College played host to the NJCAA Wrestling Championships, with a pair of Reivers winning individual national titles.

Sophomore Malachi Bordovsky ran through the 141 lbs bracket as the number two seed, defeating all but one of his opponents by either pin-fall or major decision.  That set up a meeting with top-ranked Easton Taylor of Pratt Community College.  Bordovsky scored the first two points in the second period via an escape and a technical violation but Taylor earned an escape in the third period to close the gap.  Bordovsky held off Taylor in the final seconds to earn the 2-1 victory.

Freshman CJ Carter became Head Coach Josh Watts' first heavyweight national champion, defeating the No.2 seed Cody Pinkerton of Northwest College by decision 5-3.  Carter took down top-ranked Dmarion Lopez of Western Wyoming in a thrilling semi-final bout that saw Carter trailing 4-2 with just 38 seconds remaining.  Carter scored a takedown to take a 1-point lead but Lopez escaped 10 seconds later to send the match into an extra period.  Carter held off Lopez's attack, eventually turning the tables for the sudden victory takedown.

That set up a match with Pinkerton in the finals. CJ opened up with the only takedown of the match in the first period and earned a reversal in the 3rd period.  The Freshman from Glenwood, IA held off Lopez for the remainder of the match for a 5-3 victory.

Four Reivers ended up as NJCAA All-Americans, Sophomore Paul Ruff earning back-to-back AA honors in his two years at IWCC and freshman Luke MacDonald finished as the national runner-up in the 197 lbs weight class.