NCAA Session V notes: Conel beats No. 1 Moore again for third at 197

Photo of Kyle Conel by Tony Rotundo.

2018 NCAA athlete interviews

Attendance: Session V - 19,267; Total – 93,967

Nate the Great
Ohio State’s Nathan Tomasello finished up his college career on Saturday morning with a third-place finish at 125 pounds. A 2015 NCAA champion and three-time third-place finisher, Tomasello has won his final match in all four of his NCAA appearances.

For third place, Tomasello defeated Ethan Lizak in a rematch of the Big Ten Championship finals. It was the third time they’ve met this year Tomasello holding a 3-0 advantage on the season. On Saturday morning, he notched his third win of the season over the Gopher with a 8-6 win in sudden victory.

Cruz Caps College Career

Three-time NCAA All-American and 2017 NCAA champion Darian Cruz capped off his senior season by placing fifth on Saturday morning and finishes the season with a record of 30-2. Cruz ends his career with a record of 120-20, which ties him for second all-time in Lehigh history.

Oops, He Did It Again
In one of the Cinderella stories of the 2018 NCAA Championships, unseeded Kyle Conel of Kent State earned a third-place finish this morning, defeating Ohio State’s Kollin Moore for the second time this weekend.

The two met up in the quarterfinals, where Conel brought the crowd to its feet with a first-period fall over No. 1-seed Kollin Moore.

In the bronze match, Conel put Moore to his back again; however he wasn’t able to get the fall. Instead, the Kent State senior settled for a 5-3 decision. Aside from Dustin Kilgore’s 2011 national title, Conel’s third-place performance is the highest finish for the Golden Flashes in 33 years.

WILSOOON
NC State redshirt freshman Tariq Wilson wrestled his way to an unexpected third-place finish as he entered the 133-pound field unseeded and unknown. During his tournament, he took out three top-five wrestlers, including No. 5 John Erneste of Mizzou, No. 4 Kaid Brock of Oklahoma State and Luke Pletcher of Ohio State.

Wilson put an 8-3 beating on Erneste in the opening round and eventually advanced to the quarterfinals, where he dominated with a 13-5 major decision over Brock. Brock had defeated Wilson earlier in the year with a 16-1 tech fall. Wilson was sent to the backside of the bracket after forcing 2017 NCAA finalist and No. 1 Seth Gross to overtime in the semifinals. Gross picked up a pin at the 7:18 mark.

Wilson battled back to the bronze-medal bout, where he controlled Pletcher with a 17-8 major decision.

Shields Avenges
No. 5 seed Josh Shields of Arizona State was knocked out of championship contention on Thursday night when No. 13 Luke Zilverberg of South Dakota State pulled out a 9-6 win against the Sun Devil in the round of 16. But on Saturday morning, the two found themselves face-to-face again for the second time on the weekend, battling for seventh place. This time, Shields avenged the Thursday night loss, defeating Zilverberg handily, 11-5.

A Walk in the Park(er)

Illini junior Emery Parker, who entered the tournament ranked 10th, put together an impressive tournament to finish third after losing in the first round of the championship bracket.

Parker battled back, winning seven-straight matches against five ranked wrestlers and defeating four wrestlers who were seeded higher than he, including a dominant 8-1 win over No. 7 Taylor Venz of Nebraska in the third-place bout.

The First Time…
For the first time in program history, South Dakota State picked up multiple All-America honors, coming from Seth Gross, who is a finalist at 133, Luke Zilverberg, who took eighth at 157 and David Kocer, who finished seventh at 174.

This is only the second year that Jackrabbits have had an individual finish in the top-eight. In 2017, Gross became the first DI All-American for the program, finishing second.

The Last Time…

• The last time Arizona State earned three All-Americans was in 2011. Placing for the Sun Devils this year is Jason Tsirtsis, who took seventh at 149, Josh Shields, who took seventh at 157 and Zahid Valencia, who is a finalist at 174.
• The last time North Carolina had multiple All-Americans in the same year was 1995. At 149, Troy Heilmann earned a fourth-place finish and Chip Ness took seventh at 184 pounds. Heilmann’s fourth-place finish matches Evan Henderson (2014) for the best finish by a Tar Heel since 1996.
• The last time Lock Haven had two wrestlers finish in the top four was 1966. This year, the Eagles boast Chance Marsteller, who finished fourth at 165 and Ronnie Perry, who is a finalist at 149. It is also the first time since 2002 that Lock Haven has had two All-Americans.

Going Streaking
There are nine schools in the field that have earned at least one All-American every year for at least the last 10 years. Leading the way is Iowa, which is on a 47-year All-American streak, and Lehigh is just short of the benchmark, logging an All-American for each of the last nine years.

Below is the breakdown:

Iowa – 47 years

Minnesota – 33 years

Nebraksa – 30 years

Illinois – 26 years

Oklahoma State – 25 years

Cornell – 18 years

Penn State – 17 years

Wisconsin – 14 years

Ohio State – 12 years