ST. LOUIS, Mo. (March 16, 2017) – Junior
Bryce Meredith was able to keep his national championship hopes alive, as four other Cowboys are still in contention for All-American status at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Meredith went 2-0 on Thursday to lead the Wyoming contingent at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
"We have all five guys still alive and wrestling tomorrow," UW head coach
Mark Branch said. "When you make it to NCAAs, you never know what can happen. We had a number of tough matches in tonight's session, but I was happy with how each one of them fought to extend their season. It was nice to see everyone continue to push through on to tomorrow."
In the morning session, Meredith, senior
Drew Templeman and redshirt sophomore
Branson Ashworth each collected a victory to remain in the championship bracket. Both of Meredith's wins were bonus-point victories, as Templeman and Ashworth earned decisions in championship bracket.
Templeman got the Pokes off on the right foot on Thursday morning. The Orting, Wash., native scored early in his first bout of the day against two-time All-American Conor Youtsey of Michigan. Templeman took a 2-0 lead with a first period takedown before ending the opening period tied at two. Both wrestlers would go on and score an escape while the deciding point came via penalty. Youtsey had an illegal hold called on a front headlock in the final period. With the win, Templeman went on to face Joey Dance of Virginia Tech, Intermat's second-ranked wrestler and the No. 2 seed for the Championships.
In his second match of the championships, Templeman was unable to get much offense going against the 2014 All-American. Two escapes in the final period was all the senior could score as he dropped the round of 16 match to Dance, 12-2.
In what was a slow first period between eighth-ranked Meredith and Longo in the 141-pound match, Meredith came out hot in the second period. The real excitement came towards the end of the match as Meredith worked his magic with three takedowns in the final period to secure the 12-4 major decision victory. All four of Longo's points came in escapes against Meredith.
One takedown was all Meredith would need against Jack Hathaway of Oregon State in the round of 16, but Meredith totaled two in addition to a reversal on way to an 8-0 major. Meredith earned his 23rd and 24th bonus-point victories of the season on Thursday. The Thursday night victory advanced him to the quarterfinals to face former teammate Kevin Jack of North Carolina State. Jack is the second-ranked 141-pound wrestler according to Intermat and also the No. 2 seed for the championships. Additionally, Meredith upset Jack at last season's NCAAs.
Against the second-seeded and No. 2 ranked Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State, senior
Cole Mendenhall fell behind in the second period. He did score two escapes in the second period but ultimately fell 11-2. In the wrestlebacks, Mendenhall met Virginia's Sam Krivus. Mendenhall scored first with an escape to set the tone. He then added a takedown with less than a minute left and never looked back to take the 4-1 decision. He will see 16-seeded Jordan Laster of Princeton tomorrow morning.
In Wyoming's 157-pound match, junior
Archie Colgan faced Chase DeLande of Edinboro. Unable to score until the third period, Colgan earned a reversal to bring him within four of DeLande, 6-2. Ultimately, the junior fell 6-2 as DeLande added a four-point nearfall in addition to a two-point nearfall in the second period. Colgan wrestled Jake Danishek of Indiana in the wrestlebacks on Thursday night. Colgan's first period takedown but him on the board first. Colgan posted two takedowns, a two-point nearfall plus an escape for the 9-6 decision over Danishek. Colgan will face Bucknell's Victor Lopez in the second round of consolations on Friday morning.
After a scoreless opening period between Ashworth and Brian Hamann of North Carolina State, Ashworth scored a reversal and a four-point nearfall early in the middle period to take a 6-0 lead. Riding time gave the redshirt sophomore one more point for a 7-0 decision over Hamann. It was the first-career NCAA Championships win for Ashworth.
In the second match of the day, Ashworth fell to the third-ranked Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State. Joseph got out to an 8-0 lead before Ashworth scored an escape in the second period. Ashworth did add an escape and takedown in the final frame, but Joseph ran with a 12-4 major. Ashworth will meet up with Joseph Gunther of Iowa tomorrow morning.
"All five need to come out the gate firing tomorrow," Branch added. "We have a lot of matches tomorrow, so we'll take it match by match. The goal is the same, to still be standing at the end of the day. I don't think we saw our best wrestling today. We have to be ready to go and show up tomorrow."
The Pokes, who are tied for 28th in the team standings after the first day, return to action for the third session of the NCAA Championships tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. MT.
Wyoming Results
Champ. Round 1: Templeman dec. Conor Youtsey (UM), 4-3
Champ. Round 2: No. 2 Joey Dance (Va .Tech) maj. dec. Templeman, 12-2
Champ. Round 1: Meredith major Nick Longo (OU), 12-4
Champ. Round 2: Meredith maj. dec. Jonathan Hathaway (Oregon State), 8-0
Champ. Round 1: Anthony Collica (OSU) maj. dec. Mendenhall, 11-2
Cons. Round 1: Mendenhall dec. Sam Krivus (UVA), 4-1
Champ. Round 1: Chase Delande (Edin) dec. Colgan, 6-2
Cons. Round 1: Colgan dec. Jake Danishek (Indiana), 9-6
Champ. Round 1: Ashworth dec. Brian Hamann (NCST), 7-0
Champ. Round 2: No. 3 Vincenzo Joseph (PSU) maj. dec. Ashworth, 12-4
