Dylan Chappell ’25 put on an exceptional performance this past weekend on his historic run at the 2023 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships.

Chappell finished second place after entering as the No. 5 seed and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Okla. 

At 149 pounds, Chappell pulled off multiple gritty, key wins to reach the championship. Chappell beat No. 12 seed Bryce Kresho from Franklin & Marshall in the round of 16, and then shortly after bested No. 4 seed Trae McDaniel of Army in the quarterfinals in an 8-6 victory. 

Chappell had the biggest win of his career on Sunday morning with his upset victory over Penn’s Doug Zapf, currently ranked 12th in the country. He won by an 8-4 decision in the semifinal round. 

“Since moving up from 141 pounds, I’ve been able to get stronger and use that to my advantage which helped,” Chappell said. “The matches and practices leading up to this weekend definitely helped me, as I have been able to really hone in and fix my weaknesses leading up to the tournament. I wasn’t nervous at championships, I was just having fun. I knew that anything could happen and went into the matches knowing that and was able to get some really good results, but the job isn’t finished yet.”

The job is indeed not finished, as Chappell has two weeks to prepare for NCAA championships. Chappell has been diligent with the work he has put in already, as he has shifted weight classes multiple times in his career. He has found great success due to his diligence. He’s now 25-9 this season, 9-3 since bumping up a weight class, and has a 45-15 career record at Bucknell.

“Two weeks is a long time, so I can really go hard in practice and the weight room and have enough time to recover,” Chappell said. “I just want to feel good and strong heading into the tournament. I want to be in shape feeling ready to knock some other guys off.”

Dylan Chappell will wrestle next at NCAA Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. from March 16-18.