After not finishing higher than fourth at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships during his first three years with the Warriors, the 167-pound Troy Gardner made one of the greatest leaps in the wrestling program’s history as a senior. Gardner placed fifth at the conference championships his first two years and then followed that by taking fourth at 158 pounds as a junior with a 23-6 record. As a senior, though, he was spectacular, as he moved up to 167 pounds and quickly solidified the spot in the lineup, losing just once during the regular season before winning the MAC title. At the NCAA Championships, he was even better, rolling into the finals and outlasting Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Tom Weix, 7-7, 3-2, to help lead the Warriors to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Division III Championships, the first time since 1977 that the team posted a top 10 finish. Gardner, who finished with an 83-24 career record, was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000.
