WEST LIBERTY, W. Va. - The Davenport men's wrestling team competed at the NCAA Region 3 Championship host by West Liberty University on Saturday. The Panthers finished ninth as a team with 26.5 points. Manuel Leija collected 15 of those points by finishing second in the 125-pound bracket. Crue Cooper earned eight team points by finishing sixth in the 197-pound bracket. Tyson Emmons earned three points in the 141-pound bracket. Liam Hillary got half a point in the 149-pound bracket.

Leija won his first two matches in convincing fashion. He won 18-11 against Kevin Meloni of Glenville State and pinned Christian Wellman of Ashland at the 6:45 mark. In the finals, he lost a tough 2-0 decision against Cole Laya of West Liberty. Leija in the process qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships. He becomes the first Panther to accomplish the feat since DU joined DII. Cooper lost his first match by fall at 2:03 against Nicholas Mason of Tiffin who entered with a 26-6 record. Cooper rebounded to win his next two matches including a 15-1 major decision over Jacob Charette of Findlay and a pin at 6:11 against Thomas Schmidt of Notre Dame College. Cooper fell 10-6 in the consolation semifinals against Jordan Williams of Glenville State and in the fifth place match fell by fall at 2:07 against Chris Droege of Lake Erie.

Emmons dropped his first match by fall at 3:40 against Tyler Warner of West Liberty. He won by medical forfeit over Caleb Fritz of Bluefield State and was eliminated by Thomas Williams of Davis & Elkins 4-0. Hillary won a match by sudden victory 10-8 against Collin Adkins of Tiffin after dropping his first and last match.