NCAA Session 3 Notes: 5 freshmen reach semifinals, Blair and Wyoming Seminary grads shine, quarterfinal upsets

Five freshmen reach NCAA semifinals, as first-year NCAA athletes seek All-American honors

Every year, there are a number of superstar freshmen who make their mark at the NCAA Championships. One of the big-time goals of the nation’s top young wrestlers are to become a four-time NCAA Div. I champion. There have only been seven in history: Pat Smith (Oklahoma State), Cael Sanderson (Iowa State), Kyle Dake (Cornell), Logan Stieber (Ohio State), Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell), Aaron Brooks (Penn State) and Carter Starocci (Penn State). In order to be a four-time champion, a wrestler needs to win a title as a freshman, an amazing feat by itself, and then follow it up for three more seasons. Wrestling fans appreciate young talents who burst onto the scene as freshmen.

This year, counting both redshirt freshmen and true freshmen, five freshmen have reached the semifinals, guaranteeing at least an All-American finish in the top six of their weight class: Vincent Robinson of NC State (125), Zan Fugitt of Wisconsin (133), Christopher Minto of Nebraska (165), Max McEnelly of Minnesota (184), Josh Barr of Penn State (197). These five have guaranteed All-American status, with the lowest that they could finish being sixth place.

Freshmen losing in the quarterfinals, who still need to advance in the consolations tonight to become All-Americans, included Luke Lilledahl of Penn State (125), Ethan Stiles of Oregon State (149), Beau Mantanona of Michigan (165) and Simon Ruiz of Cornell (174).

Other freshmen still alive in the consolations, with a chance at All-American honors tonight, are Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin (125), Tyler Knox of Stanford (133), Cross Wasilewski of Penn (149), Braeden Scoles of Illinois (165) and Camden McDanel of Nebraska (197).

Blair Academy vs. Wyoming Seminary moves to the next level at the NCAAs.

Two of the nation’s best high school wrestling teams compete in the National Prep School Championships, long-time powerhouse Blair Academy in New Jersey, and one of the top teams in recent years, Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania. Their teams and their athletes have a tradition of competing against each other at the highest levels. This tradition continues at the next level in college, as these athletes move on to many of the nation’s best NCAA teams.

As reported in Jason Bryant’s The Guide, the high schools with the most wrestlers at the NCAAs this year are Blair with 10 wrestlers and Wyoming Seminary with six wrestlers. Almost all of these athletes are very high seeds, and some are among the favorites to win. Blair has the advantage with four more wrestlers, of course, but we will track the Blair and SEM athletes at the mid-point of the tournament.

Blair alum moving into the semifinals are No. 3 Shayne Van Ness of Penn State at 149 and No. 4 Owen Trephan of Lehigh at 285. Wyoming Seminary also has in the semifinals, No. 2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State at 141 and

No. 2 Meyer Shapiro of Cornell at 157. The first Blair vs. SEM match of the tournament occurred in the 149 pound quarterfinals, when Penn State’s No. 3 Shayne Van Ness from Blair beat North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil from Wyoming Seminary, 7-2.

After the first three sessions, Blair athletes have scored 39.5 points, while Wyoming Seminary has scored 32.5 points. If they were entered as teams, Blair would be in fifth place (ahead of Northern Iowa) and SEM would be in 9^th place (ahead of Cornell). Just saying.

Blair Academy, New Jersey (10 athletes – 39.5 points so far

125 – No. 13 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton), 1 point so far

WIN No. 20 Brendan McCrone (Ohio State), 4-3

LOSS No. 4 Vincent Robinson (NC State), 6-4

LOSS No. 19 Copper Flynn (Minnesota), 2-1

133 – No. 16 Ryan Miller (Penn), 1 point so far

WIN No. 17 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska), 8-4

LOSS No. 1 Lucas Byrd (Illinois), maj. dec., 9-0

LOSS No. 15 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven), 9-5

149 – No. 3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State), 12 points so far

WIN No. 30 Gabe Willchett (Wyoming), pin 4:12

WIN No. 19 Andrew Clark (Rutgers), maj. dec. 11-1

WIN No. 6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina), 7-2

157 – No. 21 Logan Rozynski (Lehigh), 1 point so far

LOSS No. 12 Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State), 2-0

WIN Logan Hamblin (Oregon State), 7-3

LOSS Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa), 1-0

165 – No. 5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell), 5 points so far

WIN No. 28 Mac Church (Virginia Tech), maj. dec. 11-2

LOSS No. 12 Christopher Minto (Nebraska), maj dec. 11-1

WIN No. 27 Tyler Lillard (Indiana), 6-1

WIN No. 30 Aiden Riggins (Iowa State), pin 1:53

174 – No. 7 Danny Wask (Navy), 4.5 points so far

WIN No. 26 Brody Baumann (Purdue), tech fall 15-0

WIN No. 23 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State), maj. dec. 12-4

LOSS No. 2 Levi Haines (Penn State), 7-2

174 – No. 16 Lorenzo Norman (Stanford), 2 points so far

WIN No. 17 Sergio Desiante (Chattanooga), maj. dec. 14-3

LOSS No. 1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri), 10-8

LOSS No. 15 Luca Augustine (Pitt), 4-3

174 – No. 22 Nick Incontrera (Penn), 2.5 points so far

LOSS No. 11 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa), 4-2

WIN No. 27 Jasiah Queen (Drexel), 3-0

WIN No. 21 Joshua Ogunsanya (North Carolina), 8-4

WIN Garrett Thompson (Ohio), maj dec. 8-0

285 – No. 4 Owen Trephan (Lehigh), 10.5 points so far

WIN No. 29 Ashton Davis (Cornell), tech fall 17-2

WIN No. 13 Seth Nevills (Maryland), 8-3

WIN No. 5 Ben Kueter (Iowa), 4-2

Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (6 athletes – 32.5 points so far)

125 – No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State), 5 points so far

WIN No. 32 Marcello Milani (Cornell), tech fall 19-4

WIN No. 16 Blake West (Northern Illinois), tech fall 19-3

LOSS No. 8 Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh), TB-3, 2-2

133 – No. 7 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State), 4 points so far

WIN No. 26 Kai Orine (NC State), pin 2:12

WIN No. 23 Sean Spidle (Central Michigan), 9-4

LOSS No. 2 Drake Ayala (Iowa), maj dec. 23-10

141 – No. 2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State), 9 points so far

WIN No. 31 Jordan Titus (West Virginia), 4-2

WIN No. 18 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State), 4-1

WIN No. 10 C.J. Composto (Penn), 5-0

149 – No. 6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina), 3 points so far

WIN No. 27 Kaden Cassidy (George Mason), tech fall 10-0

WIN No. 11 Sammy Alvarez (Rider), 4-2

LOSS No. 3 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State), 7-2

157 – No. 2 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell), 10.5 points so far

WIN No. 31 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga), tech fall 20-2

WIN No. 15 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan), maj dec. 11-3

WIN Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado), 5-1

197 – No. 32 seed Wolfgang Frable (Army West Point), 1 team point so far

WIN No. 33 seed Carson Floyd (Appalachian State), 12-8

LOSS No. 1 Jacob Cardenas (Michigan), tech fall 10-0

LOSS No. 17 Nik Stemmet (Stanford), 9-8

Semifinalists by conference

Big Ten – 23

Big 12 – 9

ACC – 3

EIWA – 2

Pac-12 – 2

Ivy - 1

Quarterfinal upsets

No. 20 at 157 - Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) dec. No. 12 Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) (Dec 6-4)

No. 14 at 133 - Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) pin No. 6 Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) (Fall 2:30)

No. 13 at 174 - Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) dec. No. 5 Simon Ruiz (Cornell) 23-6 (Dec 4-3)

No. 13 at 149 - Dylan D`Emilio (Ohio State) dec. No. 12 Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) (Dec 7-3)

No. 12 at 165 - Christopher Minto (Nebraska) dec. No. 4 Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) (Dec 8-7)

No. 8 at 125 - Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) dec. No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) (TB-1 2-2)

No. 8 at 157 -  Joey Blaze (Purdue) dec. No. 1 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) (Dec 5-4)

No. 7 at 125 - Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 2 Matt Ramos (Purdue) (Dec 5-2)No. 5 at 141 - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec. Josh Koderhandt (Navy) (TB-1 2-1)