Bucknell University Athletics
EIWA Runner-Up Dylan Chappell Named Bison of the Week
3/6/2023 2:26:00 PM | Wrestling
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell wrestling's Dylan Chappell was named Bison of the Week on Monday after making a run and finishing in second place at the 2023 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships over the weekend. With the runner-up finish, Chappell secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Okla. next week.
Chappell, wrestling at 149 pounds, pulled off two big upsets to reach the finals. He eventually fell to second-seeded Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell, who was ranked as the top 149-pounder in the nation by Intermat and is a three-time NCAA champion.
In order to the reach the finals, Chappell posted a fall over No. 12 seed Bryce Kresho from Franklin & Marshall in the round of 16, then added a dramatic 8-6 sudden victory over No. 4 seed Trae McDaniel of Army in the quarterfinals. On Sunday morning, he posted the biggest win of his career by defeating Penn's top-seeded Doug Zapf, currently ranked 12th in the country, by an 8-4 decision in the semifinal round.
𝘿𝙮𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙡𝙡 ... on to the 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙈𝙋𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙋! He knocks off #1 seed Doug Zapf!!! 😤
— Bucknell Wrestling (@Bucknell_WRST) March 5, 2023
Watch: https://t.co/RQix5nLKgm#OurWay | #rayBucknell pic.twitter.com/9HWjS6U2ez
Chappell, who entered the tournament as the five seed, trailed 3-1 against Zapf heading into the third period, but he pulled off an escape, a takedown and a near fall in the final frame to grab the lead. The sophomore from Cranberry Township, Pa. added one more takedown with five seconds left to ice the match and punch his ticket to the national tournament. The EIWA was allotted just two automatic qualifiers at 149 pounds, which were the fewest of any weight class, so Chappell had to reach the finals to earn a spot.
Chappell has only been competing at 149 pounds for a little over a month, moving up two weight classes during his young Bucknell career. He spent his entire freshman season at 133 pounds and was wrestling at 141 until late January of this year. He's now 25-9 this season and 9-3 since bumping up a weight class. He possesses a 45-15 career record at Bucknell.
Chappell became Bucknell's first 149-pound wrestler to reach the title bout since assistant coach Kevin LeValley won it all in 2011.
Four other Bison earned spots on the podium on Sunday, and teammate Dorian Crosby (285) joined Chappell as an automatic NCAA qualifier. On March 7, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will announce the remaining at-large qualifiers. The NCAA brackets and seeding will be unveiled on NCAA.com the following day at 8 p.m.
Players Mentioned
