Ryan Maus stands on the podium after earning third place in the NCAA Division II Wrestling championships.

Junior Ryan Maus became the 12th Bulldog to earn All-America honors on the wrestling mats as he placed third in the NCAA Division II Wrestling championships this spring. Maus won his first match 14-4 but fell to the consolation side of the bracket with a 6-1 loss to the eventual two-time national champion, Raufeon Stots of the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Maus bounced back to win his next match and guarantee an All-America spot with a 4-2 victory late on the first day of competition.

On day two, Maus knocked off three nationally ranked wrestlers to win the consolation finals. He is just the fourth Bulldog wrestler to place as high as third in the national meet and first since Blake Peterson did so in 2008.

Maus was joined in the national meet by fellow junior Colton Schmitz. Like Maus, Schmitz won his first round match over fifth-ranked Daniel Kelly of Adams (Colo.) State College. He would lose 8-4 in the quarterfinals and then be denied All-America honors with a 5-4 loss to Nebraska-Kearney’s Chase White.

Colton Schmitz takes on an opponent from Emporia State.

As a team, Truman posted a 6-6 dual record this season. They split the six home dual matches and went 1-4 in conference duals, with the return of MIAA Wrestling this season. The Wrestling program will remain a member of the MIAA next year as an associate member of the conference since the Great Lakes Valley Conference does not sponsor the sport as of now.

The Bulldogs again were one of Division II’s top academic teams. The team finished 11th in the Academic National Recognition program with a 3.16 cumulative grade-point average. Five Bulldogs earned All-Academic with Colton Schmitz being named first team and senior Alex Maus named to the second team. Senior Daniel Karlskin and sophomores Helmut Rentschler and Nick Shea were honorable-mention All-Academic.