After an exciting 1st Day of action yesterday here in St. Louis at the NCAA D1 Championships. Texas started with 5 wrestlers. and at the end of the day only 2 were left standing to compete the next day.
Virginia’s Jack Mueller of TCA the #10 seed at 125lbs won his first 2 matches Thursday to advance to the Quarter Finals, the 2nd match was over the #7 seed . Jack than revenging his ACC semi final match against the #2 seed Joey Dance of Virginia Tech wins in OT with a take down to advance to the Semi Finals and assure him All American Honors as a true freshman for Virginia.
The Citadels Aaron Walker of San Antonio Judson at the 157lb weight lost 2 consecutive matches to take him out of the tournament, first was to the #3 seed and 2nd was a close decision tocasey Sparkman of Kent State. However Aaron is a 4x NCAA qualifier which puts him on a short list of All time qualifiers.
Campbell University’s Quentin Perez of Arlington also lost 2 consecutive battles at the 165lb weight, first one was to the #16 seed, a close 3-0 battle, the 2nd to McNurty of Northern Iowa. this was Perez first NCAA D1 appearance.
North Carolina States Nick Reenan of Highland Park/Wyoming Sem at 174lbs had the #4 seed Zach Epperly of Virginia Tech the 1st match and lost a decision 8-1. Than fell in OT to Christenson of Wisconsin. This was Reenans first trip to the NCAA D1 Championships as well.
Penn States Bo Nickal of Allen the #2 seed made quick work of his 1st 2 opponents, getting a TF over Sliga of Northwestern, and Schneider of Binghamton. Than in the quarter finals against #7 Dudley of Nebraska, Bo catches Dudley in a cradle and gets the Fall in the 2nd period. Nickal makes his 2nd consecutive trip to the NCAA D1 semi finals.
