Eastern walked into the NCAA Regional Championships at Lantz Arena with 10 wrestlers and one moved on – Pat Dowty.

The junior 133-pound wrestler made it consecutive NCAA appearances after he made it to the championship match of his weight class.

The fourth of nine children began wrestling at sixth grade and found he enjoyed more than basketball.

“We encouraged him to (wrestle) a little bit. Pat has always been athletic, but he was always small and liked basketball, but fell in love with wrestling,” Dowty’s step-father Dave Smith said.

Dowty is continuing the family tradition of wrestling with his younger brother Chris wrestling at Lincoln Community College where Pat transferred from. Another younger brother D.J. is seven years old and wrestles at 45 pounds.

“He’s seven and a whoppin’ 45-pounder, so no worries about cutting weight there,” Smith said.

Dowty continually struggles to keep the weight off in the summer months but always seems to lose the weight before returning to campus.

“We’ve had some concerns about injuries over the years, but our main concern was cutting weight and how that might hurt him in the long run,” Smith said. “During the summer months he weighs about 160 pounds and he wrestles at 133, so he really struggles with that.”

Dowty struggled through a junior season where he’s been dealing with several injuries. However, Dowty managed to put together two competitive matches during regionals.

With his parents in the stands, Dowty received the No. 2 seed and pinned Air Force’s Matt Benza to advance to the championship final, where he lost 6-2 in a highly competitive match.

“I was kinda concerned about it. He had had the flu, and turf toe on top of that and then he hurt his wrist,” Smith said. “He has had a really tough year, but this has been one of his goals. (going to nationals) I was very impressed with it and was glad we went.”

The Franklin, Ind. native is currently earning his degree in industrial technology and will look to represent Eastern well in the NCAA national championships.