Looks like we did it! Four months into the regular season, one weekend of conference tournaments, and here we are, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City getting ready to kick off the most prestigious tournament for the oldest and greatest sport in the world.
We're at the 2024 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships, and we'll be giving you a breakdown of all the action right here in real time!
2024 NCAA Tournament Watch Party
Do you have some time to kill before you start wrestling? Can I recommend spending an hour watching the latest FloSports Original: Spencer & Austin? I'm admittedly biased but in my humble opinion he rules.
Where are the parentheses?
I hope you came here for the live blog but if you just want the parentheses I understand that too. We all crave parentheses. Here it is Link to the D1 NCAA Championship event page on Trackwrestling. It's very easy to find the braces from there. In parentheses, sweet, sweet.
What about the schedule?
Sure, here.
Thursday 21 March
Session 1 – 12:00 PM (Braids and Round of 32)
Second Session – 7:00 PM (Round of 16 and Consolation)
Friday 22 March
Session 3 – 12:00 PM (Quarterfinals and Consolation)
Session 4 – 8:00 PM (Tournament Semi-Finals and Round of 12)
Saturday 23 March
Session 5 – 11:00 AM (matches decided)
Session 6 – 7:00 PM (Tournament Finals)
You probably remember everything written above from results like “Note Matching Session”. That's because I cut and pasted it directly from the award-winning live blog that I just finished writing a few hours ago.
This is because I've been too busy to craft a proper live blog intro for each session, but don't think for a moment that it's because I don't care. This is because the event happens so fast and so furiously that there is little time to prepare.
Just a little while round 2 starts in less than an hour and I still have a lot of work to do before I can start live blogging so hang in there and we'll be in the thick of more wrestling at the NCAA Tournament No time!
Consolation bracket matches will be held on the outdoor mats, Nos. 1, 2, 7 and 8. Championship side matches will be indoors on Mats 3, 4, 5 and 6. We will focus on the tournament matches in the round of 16, but you can follow each bout on Track wrestling (And watch it live on ESPN).
125 pounds
PSU's Braeden Davis has Cornell's Brett Ungar. No goals had been scored after three minutes, although Davis was consistently taking the lead in the game. Davis got away in the second for a 1-0 lead. No more points now Ungar gets a turn on the bottom. Davis rides hard, 37 seconds RT. Davis with over a minute to fight back and counting. Ungar managed to escape but with less than 10 seconds left in the period, so Davis would secure a 2-1 win.
All-American Pat McKee of Minnesota vs. Richie Figueroa of Arizona State University. Figueroa hits first with a takedown after a short scramble. He has the first points in the Championship side of the second session. Another escape and takedown gives Figueroa a 6-1 lead. McKee needs stoppage time. Unfortunately, his left leg has been causing him problems all season. Maki is able to pull it out and keep going. He led 9-1 in the second and Figueroa would win by decisive decision to score an extra team point for the Sun Devils.
After a first-round upset, Harvard's Diego Sotelo faced Lock Haven All-American Anthony Noto. Bald Eagle via New York scores first to lead the Scarlet Gladiator 3-1. Noto led 6-1 in the second half. Sotelo has beaten Noto this season but Noto is now 9-1 in third place. Sotelo tried to get a turn in front but Noto would make it 9-1.
The life of Northern Colorado's Stevo Bolin will be a wrestling match with Purdue's Matt Ramos, a 2024 NCAA Tournament finalist. Ramos took an early 3-0 lead, and is now 3-1. 3-2 now into the second period Stevo rides hard up top in the third. A walk-off would send things to OT but now Tamos is out and it's 4-2 in favor of the Boilermaker. Stevo threatens, but Ramos defends. 30 seconds. Ramos will win 4-2 in a tough match.
Lehigh true freshman Lac Stanic faces a serious test against Nebraska veteran Caleb Smith. He didn't score after one period, and Smith escaped in the second period to make it 1-0. Stanic down to start the third with the same score. Now 1-1, ride time is not a factor. A surprise victory, a double-legged husker finish for the win. Caleb Smith gets Nebraska fans on their feet!
Iowa State's Drake Ayala wastes no time getting the first takedown on Stanford's Niko Provo. Provo comes out quick to make it 3-1. Ayala's fatal slide! Ayala's three takedowns now lead to three escapes still at first. Ayala's trip, another TD on third down is a technical victory, which is what Manny Hawkeye fans are cheering for.
Wisconsin's Eric Barnett and NC State's Jacob Camouche are in the All-American battle. Barnett with the first score after a scramble and some good balance at the top. Barnett is feeling his troubles today and still leads 3-1 after two periods and a lot of wrestling. RT at 1:10 for Badger. Barnett leads 7-2 in the third period. Barnett would take it 8-2 with riding time, an impressive win.
OK State's Troy Sprately with Virginia Tech's Cooper Flynn is the final 125-pound bout of this round. Sprtatley breaks goose eggs off the board for a 3-0 lead late in the first period. 3-1 was still in Sprately's favor at the end of the second half. Spratly escaped and 1:46 left by RT for a 4-1 lead into the third period. Spratly officially declares the score 7-1 and moves on to the quarterfinals.
133 pounds
Michigan's Dylan Ragosin wasted no time with the first takedown on App State's Ethan Oakley. Three close goals by Ragosin and an escape made it 6-1 at the end of the period. Ragusin holds the lead until third but the score is now 10-5, and Oakley is trying to get a turn on top. Oakley can't get a turn, so it's 11-5 by RT and Ragosin wins.
With Sprately still on the mat, comes Cowboy standard bearer Daton Fix to take on Ohio State's Nick Bouzakis. Fix and Bouzakis in a risky upper body exchange but Fix is too smart and gets the takedown and goes up 3-0. A third-period takedown of Bouzakis makes things interesting but Fix mounts a comeback and wins 5-4 for his fifth NCAA quarterfinal appearance.
Rutgers Big Ten champion Dylan Schover has Bucknell's Curt Phipps. Shawver came close to a takedown at the end of the period but Phipps did enough to keep the double donuts on the scoreboard. Complete out in the second period still 0-0 but 120 seconds of RT for the Scarlet Knights. Shawver takes neutrality to maintain RT. They scrambled for third place but eventually stalemate. Schover almost lands down on the restart, but they scramble. And Phipps is running out of time, so it will be a gutsy 1-0 win for Dylan Schover.
Campbell's Dominic Zaccone will face NCAA and UWW world champion Vito Arugao of Cornell. Arujau and Zaccone roll from one end of the mat to the other, to no avail, but the Cornell coaches think there was one there and throw the brick. There was no result in review, but soon after, Arojao got the better of Zacconi and now leads 3-1.
Arizona State's Julian Chelipov has Iowa State's Evan Frost. After a scoreless first, Frost escaped in the second for a 1-0 lead.
Nasir Bailey, Little Rock's true fur phenom, has UVA's Nittany Lion hitter Marlon Yarbrough, who upset Aaron Nagao in the first round.
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