Four-time All-American winner Joe Brant finished his career in Sioux Falls, S.D at the NCAA Championships over the weekend.

Brant had to work his way through two consolation rounds on the first day before claiming his third place title in the 197-weight class.

Following the consolation rounds, Brant overcame Upper Iowa’s Ryan Parmely by a pin and then Notre Dame’s Garret Lineberger in a 2-1 decision.

Brant won the final match of his career with a pin in 2:36 against Maryville’s Ryan Beltz. This final pin improved his senior season record to 29-3 and AU career record of 155-25.

“It shows that I am persistent and I can fight through adversity,” said Brant. “None of that was every given to me and was something that I earned, fought and worked for. Wrestling does not just teach you about being good at the sport. It teaches you how to be good at life.”

There were five other athletes who qualified for the championships, although none of those Eagles moved on to the second day.

Junior Brandon O’Neill lost in his first matchup of the meet in a 3-2 decisions, although was able to work his way back through one consolation round before falling to Maryville’s Nick Burghart in a technical fall.

Freshman Chandler Minnard, and juniors Bobby Mason, Brent Fickle and Jordan Murphy also had their seasons come to a close after the first day losing twice in the championships.

“All of us had a rough first round,” said Brant. “We were all really prepared, ready and were peaking at the right time of the season and those guys fought their matches hard, but they just were not the right style of matchups.”

Brant says his athletic career is not over yet as he hopes to begin to pursue MMA.

“I am going to take a day off then I going to start training again,” said Brant. “I think I am going to pursue a little bit of MMA. That is my plan. I have not fully developed that plan yet but it is something I am going to work on these next couple months.”

Brant has worked with AU head coach Josh Hutchens throughout his past five seasons with the Eagles and says Hutchens has helped to form him into the successful and mature athlete he has become.

“He really helped change my mindset of training,” said Brant. “He helped me realized that there are times to go 100 percent and then there are times to taper down and be smart, especially the older you get.”