Wrestling coach Bill Neal was named the Southwest Conference coach of the year for the second year in succession as his team advanced to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) nationals.

On Feb. 25, Richland’s men and women’s wrestling teams participated in the NCWA Southwest Conference Championship at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. The women’s team won the conference while the men’s team finished second.

In the women’s division, six women participated in the finals and three won their contests crowning Richland as the tournament champions.

In the men’s division, Richland was originally judged to have won the championship, but the day after the NCWA governing board re-evaluated the scoring method for some of the men’s division matches. The governing board then awarded the matches to the players of UNT after reviewing the scoring methods.

Jim Giunta, an NCWA representative, explained that there was a technical error with the software that records and analyzes the scores and that was what caused the misunderstanding.

Ten men and six women from Richland will play in the NCWA National Championship in Allen March 8-10.

Regules receives scholarship

Freshman Erwin Regules signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer in NCAA Division II at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls.

Regules plays primarily as an attacking midfielder. He scored five goals and had 11 assists in 18 games for the Thunderducks last season. His contributions were pivotal in Richland’s run to the national finals in Herkimer, N.Y.

With a 20-0-3 record, Midwestern State finished out the 2017 season at No. 5 in NCAA Division II. It lost in the quarterfinals to Cal Poly Pomona in penalties after extra time.

Regules is looking forward to playing for the Mustangs and he hopes to “score a few like I did here [at] Richland.”