Crawfordsville, Ind. – The Thunder wrestling team finished 12th at the 2025 NCAA Division III Region V Tournament this weekend on the campus of Wabash College. Wheaton graduate student Jackson Punzel finished second in the 197-pound weight class to earn a spot at the 2025 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships on March 14-15 in Providence, Rhode Island.

North Central College finished first at the event with 173 points, ahead of second-place UW-Whitewater with 142.5 points and Millikin placed third with 118.5 points. Olivet scored 113.5 points in fourth place and Wabash College placed fifth with 113 points. Adrian scored 84 points in sixth place, University of Chicago scored 79.5 points in seventh place, Albion was eighth with 60.5 points, John Carroll University scored 59 points in ninth place, Manchester University rounded out the top-10 with 53 points. Case Western Reserve finished 11th with 45.5 points, Wheaton scored 37 points in 12th, Elmhurst University recorded 35 points in 13th place, Alma was 14th with 29 points, Trine University scored 25 points in 15th place, Mount St. Joseph was 16th with 15.5 points and Ohio Wesleyan scored 14.5 points in 17th place.

Punzel opened the tournament on Friday with two convincing wins. Punzel defeated Manchester's Ethan Skinner in a 15-0 technical fall (4:08) to open the tournament. He then advanced to the semifinals with a 12-5 decision over John Carroll's Jesse Kanatzar.

Punzel defeated North Central's Casey Aikman in an 18-3 technical fall in 4:06 in Saturday's semifinal round. Punzel dominated Aikman early with three takedowns in the opening period and a near fall to lead 13-2 after one period. Punzel had a reversal and another takedown in the second period to earn the technical fall win against the 2025 CCIW Champion at 197-pounds.

Punzel's win against Aikman secured the Wheaton standout a spot in the championship match at 197-pounds as well as a trip to Nationals later this month as the top three wrestlers in each weight class earn a spot at the Division III Championships.Wabash's Charles Baczek won an 8-1 decision against Punzel in today's championship match at 197 pounds.

Wheaton's other placewinner this weekend at the Region V Tournament was Anthony Zamora at 133-pounds. Zamora finished fifth in his weight class. Zamora won both of his matches on Friday, opening the tournament with a fall just 25-seconds into his match against Elmhurst's Joe Fornaro. Zamora's second match of the day was a 9-7 decision over Wabash's James Day, the tournament's No. 2 seed and a 2024 NCAA qualifier.

Zamora opened Saturday's semifinals with a matchup against Millikin's Coby Haney. Haney defeated Zamora in a 10-3 decision to send the Thunder graduate student to the consolation bracket.

Zamora lost his next match in a 12-9 decision against Case Western Reserve's Art Martinez in the consolation semifinals. Martinez led Zamora 7-5 at the end of the first period. Zamora gained a point with an escape early in the second period as Martinez led 7-6 at the end of two periods. Martinez had an escape midway through the third period to increase his lead to 8-6. Zamora registered a takedown with about 40-seconds left in the final period to gain a 9-8 lead. Martinez tied the match at 9-9 with an escape as about 20-seconds remained in the match. Martinez was awarded a takedown with about one second left in the period to give the CWRU wrestler a 12-9 decision over Zamora.

Zamora bowed out of the tournament with a 7-3 loss against North Central's Ethan Spacht in the fifth place match.