JOHNSTOWN — Former Pitt-Johnstown two-time NCAA National Champion and Claysburg-Kimmel High School graduate Thad Benton was selected for induction into the 2023 Jim Koch Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Coaches Association announced recently.

Benton will be one of seven new members inducted at the NWCA National Convention July 28 at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina.

Joining Benton are Jason Bingaman (Lake Superior State), a two-time NCAA Division II National Champion and four-time All-American at 285 pounds, Arsenia Barksdale (Adams State), a four-time All-American and the 2009 national champion at 125 pounds, Trevor Franklin (Upper Iowa), a four-time National Qualifier and two-time national champion at 125 pounds, Phil Johns (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville’s), a four-time All-American the 1991 national champ at 126 pounds, Joe Kemmerer (Kutztown), a two-time National Champion at 133 pounds, and Kirk Myers (Northern Iowa), a three-time National Champion at 190 pounds.

From 2001 through 2006, Benton’s efforts on the Pitt-Johnstown wrestling mat established him as one of the all-time greats in Mountain Cat history. Benton, a three-time All-American, became UPJ’s eighth individual wrestler to win a NCAA Division II National Championship in 2005, before becoming the third to win multiple titles when he duplicated the feat again the following season.

Benton, a former PIAA runner-up at Claysburg, joined the Mountain Cats for the 2001-02 season and took a redshirt.

As a redshirt freshman in 2002-03, Benton won the starting spot at 133 pounds and posted a 25-9 overall record on his way to securing his first All-America honor with a fifth-place finish and earning the Most Falls in the Least Amount of Time Award at the National Tournament.

A year later, the Claysburg native was 16-2 before an injury ended his season.

Benton returned to the mat in 2004-05 at 141 pounds and went 30-5 with a team-leading 16 falls. He claimed his first of two NCAA East Regional crowns, before defeating Nebraska-Omaha’s Eli Dominguez, 9-4, in the National Title bout at 141 to help lead the Mountain Cats to a fourth-place finish. That season, Wrestling Report.com named him Pennsylvania’s Collegiate Wrestler of the Year.

Benton continued to dominate in his final year by going 41-6 with 17 more falls, winning the title at 141 pounds at the Slippery Rock Open, and placing eighth at the Division I-dominated Midlands Open. After winning his second consecutive East Region Championship, Benton led Pitt-Johnstown to a sixth-place national finish and became the Mountain Cats’ third wrestler to win multiple national titles with his win over Central Oklahoma’s Kyle Evans.

His 17 falls in 2005-06 are still a Pitt-Johnstown record for the 141-pound weight class, while is 121 career wins rank 15th on the Mountain Cat Wins List and is .842 winning percentage is eighth on the Win Percentage List.

Benton graduated from Pitt-Johnstown in 2006 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography and began his career working for former Pitt-Johnstown National Runner-up Sean Isgan at CME Engineering in Somerset. In 2020, he moved to Enterprise Venture Corporation where he is employed as a Quality Control Laboratory Technician.

He currently coaches his daughter’s youth softball team and has served as an assistant wrestling coach at Richland High School in Johnstown since 2008 where the program has produced three state championships, a runner-up finish and multiple PIAA place winners.

Benton, his wife Cortney, and three girls, Cali, Tylee and Kensley reside in Johnstown.