Birmingham, Ala. – The semifinals are set for the all the weight classes as day one of the 2017 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship concluded on Friday evening at Bill Harris Arena at the Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala.
Notre Dame leads the way with five wrestlers in the semifinals, while Ashland and McKendree are close behind with three wrestlers in the semifinals. Seven schools are tied with two wrestlers each in the semifinals.
The 125 pound semifinals will feature Ivan McClay of Notre Dame College vs. Austin Petril of Kutztown and Brett Velasquez of defending champion St. Cloud State vs. Willie Bohince from Mercyhurst.
At the 133 pound class, the first semifinal will pit Dustin Warner of Wheeling Jesuit vs. Blake Bosch of MSU Morehead. In the second semifinal, Carmine Ciotti of Gannon will wrestle Michael Labry of Ashland.
Moving to the 141 pounders, Daniel Salazar of Pitt-Johnstown will face Darren Wynn from McKendree in the top half of the bracket. The second 141 pound semi will see Nick Crume of U Indy vs. Maryville’s Nate Rodriguez.
Nic Goebel of Findlay pushed his record to 22-0 as he advanced to the semifinals of the 149 pound bracket. Goebel will wrestle Juwan Edmond of Notre Dame in the first semifinal. Tiffin’s Michael Screptock will grapple with Keith Surber of Nebraska-Kearney in the other 149 semifinal.
Limestone’s DeAndre’ Johnson used sudden victory to hand Pitt-Johnstown’s Cody Law his first loss of the season and jump into the 157 pound semifinal. Ryan Strope of McKendree also used sudden victory to advance in the other quarterfinal and will wrestle Johnson in the semifinals in the top half of the bracket. Destin McCauley of Nebraska-Kearney will wrestle Findlay’s Joey White in the second semifinal of the 157 pound class.
In the 165 pound bracket, Isaiah White from Notre Dame will take on Troy Warner of Kutztown the semifinals, while Lake Erie’s Nick Vanermeer will face Brock Wingbermuehle from McKendree in the other semifinal.
The 174 pound semifinals are set. Nick Becker of Wisconsin-Parkside will put his 24-0 record on the line vs. Dalton George of Ohio Valley in semifinal No. 1. In semifinal No. 2, Adam Cooling of Minnesota State will wrestle Blaze Shade of UNC Pembroke.
The 184 pound semifinals will feature Garrett Lineberger of Notre Dame vs. Aero Amo of Augustana and Nicholas Fiegener from California Baptist vs. Jordan Murphy from Ashland.
The first semifinal of the 197 pound semifinal has Evan Ramos of Shippensburg taking on California Baptist’s Jacob Waste. In the second semifinal, Luke Cramer from Ashland will take to the mat against Jon Inman from Fort Hayes State.
Notre Dame’s Kameron Teacher used a sudden victory win in the 285 pound quarterfinals to move into the semifinals. His opponent in the second semifinal of the bracket will be Logan Hopp from Upper Iowa. The first 285 semifinal will see Michael Lowman of Augustana take on Garrett Gray of Tiffin.
Session three of the 2017 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship will get underway at 10:00am on Saturday, March 11. The final round of the Championship will begin Saturday evening at 6:00pm. Live results and live video will be online at www.NCAA.com.
