Elizabethtown, PA – Senior Mike Denver (Bayville, NJ/Central Regional) swept his way through the 184-pound weight class as The College of New Jersey wrestling team competed at the 2012 Metropolitan Conference Championship on Sunday. Denver was also cited as tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
 
By winning his weight class, Denver earned an automatic spot to the 2012 NCAA Division III Championships, which are slated for March 9 and 10 at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.  
 
The Lions have two more grapplers headed to Wisconsin as junior Dan Herr (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) and junior John Darling (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) each received “wild cards” berth. Herr finished second at 133 pounds, while Darling finished in that same spot at 157.
 
The Lions finished tied for sixth as a team tying Delaware Valley College with 75.5 points. The race for the title was a close one as Centenary College won the tournament with 111 points, edging out York (PA) College by a half point. The Spartans finished with 110.5. Wilkes University claimed third place with 103 points. The tournament was hosted by Elizabethtown College.
 
Denver entered the tournament as the country's top-ranked wrestler in his weight class and didn't disappoint as he won his opening match by fall in 4:18 and then moved into the finals with a 21-6 technical fall win. In the finals, he faced eighth-ranked Mike Reilly from King's College and won by the score of 8-2 for his first conference title.
 
The trip to the national tournament marks the third straight year Denver has earned a trip and he is seeking his third straight All-American citation. Last season he finished sixth.  Denver ended the day with a 3-0 record raising his career mark to 138-21, with that number of wins the most on record by a Lion. He is 32-2 this season.
 
Herr advanced to the final at 133 pounds, but fell to top-seeded Eric McCann of Delaware Valle by a narrow 2-1 margin. He opened the day with a pin in his first match and then collected a 5-3 decision over Myzar Mendoza from Wilkes University in the semifinals.
 
Darling  won his first two matches of the tournament at 157 pounds starting with a 6-1 decision over York's Drew Spector and then an 8-3 triumph over Emmanuel Ajagbe from Delaware Valley College. In the finals, Darling was edged 5-2 by top-seeded Chris Burdge from Centenary.
 
Senior Brian Bollette (Newton, NJ/Kittatinny) finished third at 141 pounds finishing the day with a record of 3-1. His final win was a 5-3 decision over Centenary's Sean Mesinna.

Sophomore KC Murphy (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) finished strong as he battled back to place third at 165. After dropping his opening match of the day, he rattled off three straight victories. He capped his day with a 6-2 win over Don Smith from Delaware Valley College.