ST. LOUIS, Mo. (March 12) – Heath Gray and Dalton Abney advanced to the finals to keep Central Oklahoma in second place on the final day of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships Saturday afternoon at Chaifetz Arena.

Gray breezed into the finals at 184 pounds and will look to claim his second straight championship in Saturday's 7 p.m. finals, while Abney advanced with a dramatic third-period fall in making the title bout at 197 for the second straight year.

Top-ranked Nebraska-Kearney has wrapped up the team championship with 123 points. The Bronchos (78) are trying to stay ahead of No. 4 West Liberty (70.5) in a battle for second, with both having two finalists.

UCO will finish with six All-Americans, the most since having the same number in 2013. Paxton Rosen finished fourth at 125 pounds, 149 Brik Filippo took fifth and 174 Alex Kauffman and Hvy Shawn Streck both placed sixth.

"It was a pretty rough day overall, but Heath and Dalton both did a great job making the finals," head coach Todd Steidley said. "We lost some tough matches in the semifinals and had a hard time bouncing back from those.

"But I'm proud of our guys and how they've competed this weekend. They left it all on the mat and that's all I can ask of them."

The Bronchos went 5-9 in the marathon session, losing a trio of one-point decisions in the semifinals.

Gray dominated UNK's Billy Higgins 8-2 to avenge his only loss in the last three years in advancing to the finals. Gray had a 50-match winning streak snapped when he dropped a 3-2 decision to Higgins in UCO's dual win on Feb. 6, but the senior star was not to be denied this time.

Higgins broke a scoreless tie with an escape early in the second period, but Gray struck for the go-ahead takedown with 43 seconds left. It was all Gray in the final stanza, as he tallied a quick escape and two takedowns against one Higgins escape to win going away.

The second-seeded Gray will face top-seeded West Liberty's Connor Cole Saturday night in a rematch of last year's finals. Gray prevailed 3-2 to capture the crown a year ago.

Abney made the title bout in stunning fashion with a fall in the final minute of his semifinal battle. Abney got loose from Tiffin's Nicholas Mason – the 2019 national champion – in the second period to take a 1-0 lead, but was called for a locked-hands penalty early in the third to tie it.

Needing to control Mason the rest of the period to earn a riding time point and the win, Abney instead turned Mason on the edge of the mat and collected his 10th pin of the season at the 6:35 mark.

The top-seeded Abney, now 25-0, will meet Indianapolis' No. 3 Derek Blubaugh in the finals. It will be the fourth meeting of the season between the two, with Abney winning in the dual, the Midwest Class finals and the Super Regional IV finals.

Rosen won two consolation matches to make the bronze-medal match before coming up short.

He cruised to an 8-3 triumph to start the day, then scored a third-period fall in the consolation semis. Rosen trailed North Carolina-Pembroke's Nicholas Daggett 7-5 in that match before turning a takedown into his seventh pin of the year at the 5:35 mark.

Rosen dropped a 9-5 decision to Shippensburg's Tyshawn White in the consolation finals.

The second-seeded Filippo fell into the consolation bracket with a 3-2 setback to No. 3 Noah Hermosillo of Adam State. Hermosillo's takedown with 46 seconds remaining was the difference.

Filippo lost a 5-3 decision to Pittsburgh-Johnstown's Jacob Ealy in the consolation semis to drop to the fifth-place match. The junior finished strong, using a third-period takedown to trim Indianapolis' Logan Bailey 6-5 to end the tournament on a winning note.

Kauffman also dropped a semifinal heartbreaker, losing 3-2 in the overtime tiebreaker to Indianapolis' third-seeded Andrew Sams. Kauffman knocked off two seeded opponents Friday, but couldn't pull off a third straight upset as Sams earned the winning point with more riding time in the two tiebreaker periods.

Kauffman couldn't bounce back in the consolation semis, losing 10-3 to West Liberty's fifth-seeded Ty McGeary. The junior scored a reverse with nine seconds left in regulation to tie Mercyhurst's Dillon Walker 9-9 in the fifth-match match and was close to scoring a takedown early in the sudden-victory period before Walker came out on top in a scramble.

Streck suffered his first loss after a 12-0 start in the semis, falling to second-seeded Darrell Mason of Minnesota State-Mankato. Mason's 3-2. Mason struck for an early takedown and Streck couldn't counter with one of his own despite repeated efforts.

The third-seeded Streck was injured midway through the first period of his consolation semifinal match, forcing him to default there and again in the fifth-place match.

NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS
CONSOLATION FINALS
125 – Tyshawn White, Shippensburg, dec. Paxton Rosen, UCO, 9-5.

FIFTH PLACE
149 – Brik Filippo, UCO, dec. Logan Bailey, Indianapolis, 6-5.
174 – Dillon Walker, Mercyhurst, dec. Alex Kauffman, 13-9 (SV).
Hvy – Lee Herrington, UNK, won by injury default over Shawn Streck, UCO.

CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
149 – Noah Hermosillo, Adams State, dec. Filippo, UCO, 3-2.
174 – Andrew Sams, Indy, dec. Kauffman, UCO, 3-2 (TB).
184 – Gray, UCO, dec. Billy Higgins, Nebraska-Kearney, 8-2.
197 – Abney, UCO, pinned Nicholas Mason, Tiffin, 6:35.
Hvy – Darrell Mason, Minnesota State-Mankato, dec. Streck, UCO, 3-2.