Jaxson Rohman will compete in the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships for the second time.
The Martin County West graduate, a sophomore at Augustana University, is seeded fifth at 125 pounds in the tournament, which is being held Friday and Saturday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.
Rohman won his first match at last year’s national tourney in St. Louis but then lost his next two.
In Friday’s opening round, Rohman, 15-5, will wrestle Jose Diaz of Gannon University (10-8). Diaz is a redshirt senior who transferred to Gannon from Division I Franklin & Marshall.
Rohman qualified for the national tournament with a second-place finish at the NCAA Super Region V tourney in Aberdeen.
After a bye at the region tournament, Rohman pinned Upper Iowa's Colby Lopez in the quarterfinals in 2:47 and then won a 9-6 decision over Jaden Verhagen of University of Mary.
In the finals, he lost 8-5 to Wisconsin-Parkside's Shane Corrigan.
There could be a rematch of that Super Region final as the winner of Rohman’s match meets either the fourth-seeded Corrigan or Caden Howard of Drury in the Friday night session.
Here’s Jaxson talking about the national tournament: