The Wells Fargo center was electric for the first day of the NCAA wrestling tournament championships. Penn State shocks no one as they crushed going 20-0 and sent all 10 of their wrestlers off to the next round with Greg Kerkvliet topping off the day and advancing to the semifinal round against seventh ranked Joshua Heindselman from Michigan at 285 lbs.
The first ever brother vs. brother matchup happened in an NCAA tournament with sixth ranked Mac Stout from Penn State and 11th ranked Luke Stout from Princeton at 197lbs. Mac Stout emerged victorious and advanced to the semifinal round against third ranked AJ Ferrari in the Semifinals.
Speaking of Ferrari, the Cal State powerhouse is 18-0 after his match with 19th ranked Andy Smith out of West Virginia in a easy 5-1 decision win looking to keep his undefeated streak alive through the tournament.
Minnesota superstar and top ranked in the 285, Gable Stevenson wins his match by bizarre fashion as Rutgers 16th ranked Yaraslau Slaivkousi is disqualified for stalling five times during the match to send Stevenson on to Day 2. He’ll now face number 9 ranked Cohlton Schultz out of Arizona State in the quarterfinals looking to dominate the 285-pound division.
Iowa State’s ninth ranked Jacob Frost upset Northern Colorado’s number one ranked 2023 national champion Andrew Alirez at 141 pounds. Frost breezed through the match 6-1 and advanced to the semifinals. He will now face top ranked Brock Hardy in the quarterfinals.
In the same breath another 2023 national champion falls. Arizona State’s Richard Figueroa falls and will compete for a consolation third place spot against Rutgers’ Dean Peterson after getting pinned in the second period. Peterson will now face Vincent Robinson out of North Carolina State in the quarterfinals.
The 157-pound bracket was buzzing, finishing day one with five pins. The first two rounds ended with 28 pins in total.
