NCAA Session II notes: Four unseeded wrestlers advance to quarterfinals

2018 NCAA athlete interviews

Attendance: Session II - 18,680

Sun Devil Tsirtsis Silences Northwestern
Jason Tsirtsis, a senior for Arizona State and 2014 NCAA champion, picked up an emotionally charged win over Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin, the seventh seed, in the round of 16 at 149 pounds.

Tsirtsis was a national champion for the Wildcats and wrestled three of his years of eligibility at Northwestern before being excused from the team due to academics. He transferred to ASU to finish out his collegiate career.

No. 10 Tsirtsis pulled off the upset over freshman and 2017 Junior World silver medalist Ryan Deakin, who led 3-2 with less than a minute remaining in the match. The Sun Devil sealed the win with a takedown for a 4-3 victory.

Two Countries, One Match
In the heavyweight round of 16, Kyle Snyder of Ohio State took on Jere Heino of Campbell, who have both represented their countries on the Senior World level. Snyder is a 2016 Olympic champion and two-time Senior World champion for the United States, and Heino represented Finland at the 2017 World Championships in Paris.

Snyder won Friday’s folkstyle battle with a 23-8 technical fall to move onto the quarterfinals.

World Class Heavyweights
Half of the heavyweight wrestlers that advanced to Friday morning’s quarterfinals all own Junior World medals.

Kyle Snyder and Adam Coon, the 1 and 2-seeds, respectively, each won two during their Junior-level careers. Snyder is a 2013 Junior World champion and a 2014 Junior World bronze medalist in freestyle, while Coon owns a Junior World bronze in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Nathan Butler of Stanford secured a Junior World bronze at the 2015 Junior World Championships in Brazil.

Oregon State’s Amar Dhesi took home a silver, representing Canada at the 2014 Junior Worlds. To advance to the finals, he defeated Coon. It is possible these two will meet up in this weekend’s semifinals.

Champions Collide
Isaiah White came into the NCAA championships as the 11th seed, after finishing eighth in the B1G tournament. White now finds himself in the quarterfinals after defeating Demetrius Romero of Utah Valley, 9-4, in the opening round and sixth seed Richie Lewis of Rutgers, 3-1, in sudden victory. Interestingly, White was a Division II national champ for Notre Dame College last season and transferred to Nebraska during the offseason. White’s opponent in the quarterfinals is the returning Division I national champ Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State. Both B1G wrestlers, these two did not meet in the B1G Championships and Nebraska did not wrestle Penn State this season. However, not for nothing, White did defeat Joseph 9-3 in a Fargo Junior freestyle finals in 2014.

U23 Rematch
The 165-pound quarterfinals feature a U23 World Team Trials finals rematch as two-time NCAA champion and three-time finalist Isaiah Martinez is set to face off against Chance Marsteller.

Martinez won the best-of-three freestyle finals series over Marsteller with a pair of decisions, 8-2 and 7-6.

‘The Land’ of Upsets
Four unseeded wrestlers earned spots into the quarterfinals after big wins on Thursday night.

Sa’Darian Perry, who defeated No. 9 Josh Alber of Northern Iowa earlier in the day, became Eastern Michigan’s first quarterfinalist since Joel Smith in 1989 after defeating Maryland’s Ryan Diehl, 12-6, in the round of 16 at 141 pounds.

To get to the quarterfinals at 184 pounds, Chip Ness of North Carolina downed two top-10 opponents in the first day of competition, including No. 10 Emery Parker of Illinois in the opening round and No. 7 Taylor Venz of Nebraska in the second round.

Two of the quarterfinalists at 197 pounds are unseeded: Kyle Conel of Kent State and Chris Weiler of Lehigh.

With a pigtail victory to start tournament, Conel is the only wrestler in the entire field to go 3-0 on the day. In his road to the quarters, he picked off All-American and ninth-ranked Preston Weigel of Oklahoma State and No. 8 Nate Rotert of South Dakota State.

Weiler had a wild match with No. 7 Frank Mattiace of Penn, picking up a 6-4 decision in the round of 16. Earlier in the day, he notched a 4-1 win over No. 10 Scottie Boykin of Chattanooga.

LeHIGH
The Lehigh Mountain Hawks advanced five wrestlers to the NCAA quarterfinals, which is the most quarterfinalist for the program since 2003.

Representing Lehigh in Fridays quarters are 2017 NCAA champion Darian Cruz at 125, Scott Parker at 133, Jordan Kutler at 174, Ryan Preisch at 184 and Weiler.

Shoop Leads in Tech Falls
Lock Haven sophomore Kyle Shoop became the outright tech fall leader in the nation on Thursday night. He entered the tournament tied for first in the nation with North Dakota State’s Cam Sykora and each had collected 12 throughout the season. Shoop took over the lead when he picked up his 13th of the season in the consolation pigtail round on Thursday night over Irvin Enriquez of Appalachian State at 141 pounds.

Fresno State is Back
In its first season back as a wrestling program, Fresno State sent two wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, including Khristian Olivas at 149 and AJ Nevills at heavyweight. Olivas remains alive in the tournament with a Thursday night win over Davion Jefferies, 11-9.

Nevills was knocked out of the tournament; however, he ends the season as an NCAA qualifier and a Big 12 finalist.