Top Seeds Advance in Men’s DIII

Division III was all chalk, with the top two seeds in each region advancing to the semifinals. The East will feature No. 1 Slippery Rock dueling with No. 2 Springfield College at 11:55 a.m. E.T. Out West, top-seeded Wisconsin-Eau Claire will take on No. 2 Duke in the other semifinal. 

Slippery Rock opened with a 36-5 win against in-state rival Susquehanna and followed that effort with a 29-5 triumph over New Mexico Tech. The Rock will tangle in the semifinals with Springfield College who followed a 21-12 victory over Wisconsin-Stout with a 14-7 win against John Caroll.

The West bracket saw top-seeded Wisconsin Eau Claire start their morning with a 24-14 victory against Richmond, before claiming a 19-12 win against Denver. They will face off with Duke who opened the day with a 24-12 victory against Endicott before upending the Lumberjacks of Cal Poly Humboldt, 26-12, in the quarterfinals.

After day one of the tournament, Division III is led in scoring by Charlie Ackla of Christendom, who recorded five tries and one conversion. Ackla closed out his day with a hat-trick against Nichols. 

He is also tied for the Division lead in tries with Anthony Rice of Denver, who recorded a try in the opener against Christendom before adding a pair against Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Cal Poly Humboldt.

All matches are streamed on TRN and YouTube.