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INDIANAPOLIS – Pitt-Johnstown's Isaiah Vance was the national runner-up at 285 pounds and Trevon Gray placed fourth at 125 to lead a group of five Mountain Cats at the 2025 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships inside Corteva Coliseum.
Vance and Gray are now two-time NCAA All-Americans.
"I think we had a great showing this weekend," Pitt-Johnstown coach Tyler Reinhart said. "Anytime you can leave the national tournament with at least one All-American is great and we were able to get two of them. We almost had two more."
Nebraska-Kearney won the team title with 115 points. Augustana (63 points), St. Cloud State (57.5), Lander (56) and Central Oklahoma (55) rounded out the top five in the field that featured more than 40 teams. Pitt-Johnstown placed 13th with 33.5 points.
After earning a spot in the semifinals with a pair of decision wins Friday, the fifth-seeded Vance ran out to a 7-2 lead, then used bonus points to secure a spot in the finals with an 11-2 major decision over Kutztown’s Freddie Retter.
After a scoreless first period in the title bout, Maryville’s No. 2-seeded Ryan Herman got an escape to start the second period. Vance got a reversal with just over a minute to go in the third period to take the lead, but Herman escaped to tie it at 2-all and send it to overtime. Neither one scored in sudden victory and it went to a rideout and Herman rode Vance the full 30 seconds. In his half of the rideout, Vance chose neutral, but wasn’t not able to score and suffered a 3-2 loss.
"It’s not the results we wanted, but I gave it my all and that's all I can ask for and I now know what I need to work on next year," Vance said.
"Isaiah's match hurts for sure, but I'm extremely proud of the effort he had," Reinhart said. "He was on the offensive and doing all of the work the whole match. It just wasn't meant to be today."
Vance finished fifth in 2024. An improved mindset pushed Vance forward this season.
"To climb the podium, it took a lot of mental," Vance said. "I knew I could compete with those guys physically. I just needed to believe in myself in the mental and that’s what I focused on a lot this season."
"Isaiah is special and he showed everyone that this weekend," Reinhart said. "Whenever he has the right mindset, great things happen, just like they did this weekend."
Vance plans on returning for the 2025-26 season as a redshirt senior.
"I do plan on returning," Vance said. "To get the gold next year, I know I can compete. I just need to wrestle more and getting the gold will come naturally."
Gray, the eighth seed at 125, dealt fifth-seeded Dayson Torgerson (Colorado-Mesa) a 7-2 loss in the consolation quarterfinals and Shane Corrigan (Wisconsin-Parkside) a 16-7 major-decision loss in the consolation semifinals to advance to the third-place bout. However, third-seeded Jaxson Rohman pinned Gray at 2:19, giving him a fourth-place finish to go along with his seventh-place finish in 2024.
“I’m grateful," Gray said. "I’m really proud of how I dealt with adversity this year. Obviously, I was going for the title and things didn’t happen my way. I got to create more action and build on my tournament this year. Other than that, I feel good.”
"Trevon looked unreal this weekend," Reinhart said. "Everyone's goal is to win the tournament, so when you take a loss early on, it's extremely hard to get your mind right to come back through the back side of the bracket. So watching he get all the way back into the third- and fourth-place match, I couldn't be more proud."
Staying true to himself was key for Gray to slay his opponents in the consolation bracket.
“Just being myself," Gray said. "That’s the biggest thing. That’s what Reinhart was trying to get me to do today. It worked pretty well. It’s really hard to bounce back and get refocused, but my focus was just being myself.”
Gray pinpointed some areas he would like to shore up leading up to his senior season.
“I want to get better in three areas," Gray said. "No. 1 is closer to God. It’s something I’ve been doing every year, but there’s always the next step with that. No. 2, I don’t think it’s any technique that I need to really work on because I’ve been in all of these matches. Just using that data and using it to my advantage. Maybe after I look back at my matches and really watch them and sit down, I pretty much wrestled everybody in the country. Just seeing what worked and what didn’t work. Then honestly, just keep being myself and good things will happen. If I sit around and wait, nothing’s really going to happen. If I go and get what I want, then things will change.”
"Both guys now believe they can win this next year," Reinhart said.
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Vance and Gray are now two-time NCAA All-Americans.
"I think we had a great showing this weekend," Pitt-Johnstown coach Tyler Reinhart said. "Anytime you can leave the national tournament with at least one All-American is great and we were able to get two of them. We almost had two more."
Nebraska-Kearney won the team title with 115 points. Augustana (63 points), St. Cloud State (57.5), Lander (56) and Central Oklahoma (55) rounded out the top five in the field that featured more than 40 teams. Pitt-Johnstown placed 13th with 33.5 points.
After earning a spot in the semifinals with a pair of decision wins Friday, the fifth-seeded Vance ran out to a 7-2 lead, then used bonus points to secure a spot in the finals with an 11-2 major decision over Kutztown’s Freddie Retter.
After a scoreless first period in the title bout, Maryville’s No. 2-seeded Ryan Herman got an escape to start the second period. Vance got a reversal with just over a minute to go in the third period to take the lead, but Herman escaped to tie it at 2-all and send it to overtime. Neither one scored in sudden victory and it went to a rideout and Herman rode Vance the full 30 seconds. In his half of the rideout, Vance chose neutral, but wasn’t not able to score and suffered a 3-2 loss.
"It’s not the results we wanted, but I gave it my all and that's all I can ask for and I now know what I need to work on next year," Vance said.
"Isaiah's match hurts for sure, but I'm extremely proud of the effort he had," Reinhart said. "He was on the offensive and doing all of the work the whole match. It just wasn't meant to be today."
Vance finished fifth in 2024. An improved mindset pushed Vance forward this season.
"To climb the podium, it took a lot of mental," Vance said. "I knew I could compete with those guys physically. I just needed to believe in myself in the mental and that’s what I focused on a lot this season."
"Isaiah is special and he showed everyone that this weekend," Reinhart said. "Whenever he has the right mindset, great things happen, just like they did this weekend."
Vance plans on returning for the 2025-26 season as a redshirt senior.
"I do plan on returning," Vance said. "To get the gold next year, I know I can compete. I just need to wrestle more and getting the gold will come naturally."
Gray, the eighth seed at 125, dealt fifth-seeded Dayson Torgerson (Colorado-Mesa) a 7-2 loss in the consolation quarterfinals and Shane Corrigan (Wisconsin-Parkside) a 16-7 major-decision loss in the consolation semifinals to advance to the third-place bout. However, third-seeded Jaxson Rohman pinned Gray at 2:19, giving him a fourth-place finish to go along with his seventh-place finish in 2024.
“I’m grateful," Gray said. "I’m really proud of how I dealt with adversity this year. Obviously, I was going for the title and things didn’t happen my way. I got to create more action and build on my tournament this year. Other than that, I feel good.”
"Trevon looked unreal this weekend," Reinhart said. "Everyone's goal is to win the tournament, so when you take a loss early on, it's extremely hard to get your mind right to come back through the back side of the bracket. So watching he get all the way back into the third- and fourth-place match, I couldn't be more proud."
Staying true to himself was key for Gray to slay his opponents in the consolation bracket.
“Just being myself," Gray said. "That’s the biggest thing. That’s what Reinhart was trying to get me to do today. It worked pretty well. It’s really hard to bounce back and get refocused, but my focus was just being myself.”
Gray pinpointed some areas he would like to shore up leading up to his senior season.
“I want to get better in three areas," Gray said. "No. 1 is closer to God. It’s something I’ve been doing every year, but there’s always the next step with that. No. 2, I don’t think it’s any technique that I need to really work on because I’ve been in all of these matches. Just using that data and using it to my advantage. Maybe after I look back at my matches and really watch them and sit down, I pretty much wrestled everybody in the country. Just seeing what worked and what didn’t work. Then honestly, just keep being myself and good things will happen. If I sit around and wait, nothing’s really going to happen. If I go and get what I want, then things will change.”
"Both guys now believe they can win this next year," Reinhart said.
Continue reading...
