SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Colorado Mesa had five wrestlers compete at the NCAA National Championships in the Premier Center in Sioux Falls. They will have one continue on and compete tomorrow for a top eight finish.
Marcus Haughian suffered a tough luck loss at 197 pounds, falling to Northern State's Joe Gomez 4-2. Haughian and Gomez were locked in a tightly contested match with neither gaining much of an advantage until the third period.
Haughian came back and earned a 10-5 decision over Cody Brundage of Newberry then picked up an injury default win to Kutztown's Brandon Clark. Clark injured his shoulder in a previous match.
He will wrestle tomorrow for placement but has earned All-American status.
141 pounder
Daniel Salazar dropped a 6-5 decision to St. Cloud State's Matt Nelson in the opening round of the tournament. Salazar surrendered a pair of reversals but came back to even the match at 4-4 before being taken down late in the match.
Salazar rebounded with a pin of Ashland's Robert Mason at the 6:30 mark to move on in the consolation rounds.
Salazar then moved on to face Colby Fehr of Notre Dame (Ohio) and fell 2-0 ending his season.
At 149 pounds,
Drew Schumann earned an 8-0 major decision victory over Ashland's Brent Fickel, who was a returning All-American that defeated Schumann a year ago in the National Tournament.
Drew dropped an extremely difficult match to Jay Hildreth of St. Cloud State in the quarterfinals. Schumann and Hildreth were tied after regulation but Hildreth rode Schumann out through the first round and earned an escape for the 2-1 win.
Schumann then fell by pin to Mercyhurst's Jeremy Landowski by pin in the third round to end his season.
Nick Swanson fell in his 165 pound bout against St. Cloud State's Clint Poster by pin. Poster fell to Colorado Mesa's
James Martinez in last season's National Semifinal at 157 pounds.
Swanson then fell in his consolation match to Findlay's Alonzo Turner 7-3 to end his tournament.
At 184 pounds,
Zak Slotten squared off with three-time returning All-American Travis McKillop of Pitt-Johnstown. Slotten fell 4-0 to McKillop but had a couple opportunities to score in the second period when he was deep in on a double-leg when time expired.
Slotten then fell in his consolation match 7-3 to Scott VanDeLoo of Minnesota State, ending his bid to become an All-American.
Wrestling begins at 10am tomorrow.
