Council Bluffs, IA - The RCTC Yellowjackts had high hopes heading into the 2021 NJCAA Wrestling Championships, and they delivered winning, the Non-Scholarship National Title for the second year in a row. RCTC sent a full contingent of wrestlers (10) to the tournament and 8 of the 10 won first round matches to get the Championships off to a great start.
RCTC got big matches in the opening round as DJ Saunders (141) won by Technical Fall 15-0. Brandon Kidd Jr. won 7-2 at 149, while Willie VonRuden won 6-0 at 157. Seth Brossard got his championships off to a great start with a a 2-0 win in the opening round at 165, while Wyatt Simon won by fall at 174. Gavin Christoffersen won 7-4 at 184, while Noah Broderson won his opening round match 4-0 at 285. Parker Dobrocky received a bye in the opening round, giving the Jackets 8 wrestlers who advanced to round two. Cale Bartels, who had an outstanding season for the Jackets at 125, and Tristen Wilson who was battling a significant ankle injury dropped their two matches at the tournament.
In round two, Parker Dobrocky earned a 10-3 win to advance to the quarterfinals, Brossard won his match 2-0 to advance to the final eight. Christoffersen won by fall and VonRuden (4-3) and Broderson (fall) also advanced to the quarterfinals.
Wyatt Simon dropped his second round match but would battle all the way back to earn All-American status finishing 8th at 174.
The final three wrestlers still rolling for the Jackets: Dobrocky, Brossard, and Christoffersen all earned All-American status and had memorable runs.
Parker Dobrocky (133) won his quarter-final match 14-7 to advance to the semi-finals. The match featured Dobrocky (#2 seed), versus Jason Henschel of Pratt the #3 seed. Henschel came away with the 7-3 decision. Dobrocky then proceeded to down James Davis of Cloud by fall to advance to the 3rd place match where he dispatched of Caleb Meekins of Indian Hills 5-3 to earn 3rd place.
Seth Brossard (165) won his quarter-final match by fall to move into the final four. There he took on Keaton Geerts of Iowa Central, and in a back and forth match fell 10-8. Brossard then moved to the consolation semis where he downed Fabian Padilla of Iowa Western to move on to the third place match. Once again Brossard got involved in a back and forth match that ended in a 13-13 tie in regulation. Sudden victory was needed to determine the 3rd place finisher and Brossard came out of the gates quickly in the SV period to get a takedown and finish the national championships in 3rd place.
The final wrestler on the mat for the Jackets was Gavin Christoffersen (184). The number two seed took on Steve Liebler of Niagara in the quarter-finals, advancing with a 9-4 decision. In the semi-finals it was the #6 seed Jaden Roberts of Rowan who went down to Christoffersen by fall. The win advanced Chistoffersen to the National Championship bout at 184 pounds versus the #5 seed Jacari Deal of Northwest Kansas Tech. In a hard fought battle Christffersen fell 7-4 and walked away as the NJCAA Runner-up.
The National title is the 4th since 2014 for the Jackets. They won the Non-Scholarship Championship in 2014, 2017, 2020, and now 2021. Head Coach Travis Rutt was named the NJCAA and NWCA Non-Scholarship Coach of the Year.