Sean Malenfant won the 184 lb. and earned his spot at the NCAA Division III National Championship
ALFRED, NY, March 4, 2024 – A trio of Alfred State athletes earned trips to the NCAA Division III National Championships with strong performances at the NCAA Regionals. Sean Malenfant (Averill Park, NY) and Zachary Levey (Horseheads, NY) will compete at the Wrestling Championships while Conor Compton (Rexford, NY) will compete for the second straight year at the Diving Championships.
Malenfant became the first Alfred State wrestler to win a NCAA Regional title by going 5-0 en route to winning the 184 lb. weight class. On day one, he pinned Derrick DeMann (Keystone) in 4:05, Casey Cooper (Elmira) in 0:58, and Robert Cunningham (Cortland) in 4:00. He clinched his spot at Nationals with a 5-1 win over Will Davis (Elizabethtown) in the semifinals and then claimed the weight class title with an 8-6 victory over Jack Ryan (Oneonta).
Levey will join Malenfant at Nationals after finishing second in the 133 lb. weight class. He pinned Alex Burroughs (Brockport) in 4:15 and then pinned Derek Bernardino (St. John Fisher) in 6:21 to advance to the semifinals. He advanced to the finals and punched his ticket to Nationals with a 9-1 victory over Danny Haws (Centenary). In the championship match, he lost a tight 5-2 decision to Isaias Torres (Ithaca).
Malenfant and Levey helped the Pioneers to a ninth-place finish at Regionals, the highest in school history. The duo will travel to La Crosse, WI on March 15 and 16 for the NCAA Division III National Championships.
Right across the hallway at RIT, Compton earned his spot in the NCAA Diving Championships with a solid effort. On the 3m board he dove to the title with a point total of 551.40. He averaged a score of 50.13 per dive to win the event that featured fourteen competitors. ON the 1m board, Compton finished ninth with a total score of 431.45. He averaged 39.22 points per dive.
Above: Conor Compton performs a dive at the NCAA Regionals. For the second straight season Compton has qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships.
Compton finished seventh in the nation on the 3m board at last year’s National Championships. He will return to the Greensboro Aquatic Center (Greensboro, NC) to compete March 20 on the 3m board and on March 22 on the 1m.
This trio of student-athletes add to the success of the Alfred State athletic department success already during the 2023-24 school year. In the fall, both the men’s soccer and football teams competed in their respective national tournaments.
