NCAA Wrestling Tournament Quarterfinals Recap
The NCAA wrestling tournament rolls on to the quarterfinals Friday morning. The quarterfinal recap goes weight by weight, starting at 125 pounds going all the way up to the big boys at 285.
Winners in the quarterfinals become All-Americans, which is a top-eight finish at the tournament. They wrestle Friday night on ESPN for a chance to wrestle in the finals Saturday night. Anyways, into the NCAA wrestling tournament quarterfinals recap.
125 Pound Quarterfinals
Taylor LaMont from Utah Valley came into the tournament as a seven seed, and squared off against Sam Latona from Virginia Tech. LaMont took the two seed to his back early in the match, a move that ended up being too much to overcome.
Spencer Lee did not dominate like he has in the past. Don’t get me wrong, he still won by bonus points 10-2, but the match was close for the first two periods.
133 Pound Quarterfinals
Hand up, I was wrong about Austin DeSanto. The Iowa Hawkeye dominated Micky Phillippi in their quarterfinal bout. DeSanto will wrestle Daton Fix, the one seed Friday night in the semifinals.
Fix won by fall in his quarterfinal, but Roman Bravo-Young from Penn State did not blow out his opponent by any means. Bravo-Young, the two seed, won 4-1.
141 Pound Quarterfinals
The Cinderella story from this bracket came to end when Real Woods from Stanford lost in the quarterfinals to Tariq Wilson from North Carolina State. Despite not having a wrestler seeded in the twenties in the semifinals of the NCAA wrestling tournament, the top four seeds advanced, setting up for a great round Friday night.
149 Pound Quarterfinals
The top two seeds advanced on their respective sides of the bracket. Sammy Sasso from Ohio State beat another Cinderella story, Yahya Thomas the 25 seed.
Max Murin and Iowa lost a team point at the end of his quarterfinal bout against Boo Lewallen. He threw his headgear after losing 6-4 in overtime to the Oklahoma State Cowboy.
157 Pound Quarterfinals
The top four seeds all won their bouts in the quarterfinal and advanced to Friday night. Brady Berge injury defaulted in the match, and Hayden Hidlay won by fall over the 23 seed Jacob Wright from Wyoming.
165 Pound Quarterfinals
The first number one seed of the tournament goes down in the quarterfinals, as Shane Griffith from Stanford upsets Alex Marinelli from Iowa. Griffith got a takedown in overtime to send the Hawkeye to the consolation side of the bracket.
The sad story here is Mekhi Lewis. In the recap blog last night I noted that he was visibly in pain wrestling in the second round. Lewis injury defaulted out of the tournament. The returning national champion from Virginia Tech will not repeat due to his shoulder injury.
Anthony Valencia hyperextended his knee in the quarterfinal match with Ethan Smith. Valencia took injury time in the second period, but he came back to the mat and tried to wrestle. Once the wrestling resumed he could not put pressure on his leg, and the two seed losses at 165 as well 13-4.
174 Pound Quarterfinals
Bernie Truax and Mikey Labriola went wire to wire in their quarterfinal bout. Labriola the 12 seed upset the fourth-seeded Labriola to guarantee his All-American status and a chance to win the whole thing. The rest of the quarterfinals wrestled to their seeds.
184 Pound Quarterfinals
There were two great matches in this round for this weight. Parker Keckeisen from Northern Iowa gets a takedown in overtime over Hunter Bolen. On another mat, Lou Deprez and John Poznanski were tied 4-4 late in the third period when the referees went to the table to review a call.
Poznanski from Rutgers gets a takedown with less than 30 seconds left and upset the three seed Deprez in the quarterfinals.
197 Pound Quarterfinals
The 197-pound quarterfinals featured a 26 seed wrestling a 15 seed for a chance to become an All-American. Michael Beard from Penn State lost to Jake Woodley from Oklahoma 8-3, sending the 26th seeded Sooner to the semifinals Friday night.
Nino Bonaccorsi from Pitt upset Kordell Norfleet from Arizona State, so the sixth-seeded Panther advances and stays alive in the championship side of the bracket.
285 Pound Quarterfinals
Trent Hilger, the 14 seed from Wisconsin was unable to get an escape when it counted in overtime and falls to Gannon Gremmel, the 6-seed from Iowa State.
We got a slight upset at 285, as Tony Cassioppi from Iowa beats Cohlton Schultz from Arizona State 3-1. Cassioppi, the 5 seed, advances to the semifinals to wrestle Gable Steveson.
TL//DR: NCAA wrestling tournament quarterfinals recap, injuries plague the 165 pound weight class.
SIGN UP FOR SIMBULL USING OUR CODE FOR $10 BONUS !!- WHEN YOUR TEAM WINS, YOU WIN!!! LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP HERE.
